Strange Days: Fire and Rain Cpts 1 to 7
by Horosha
Summary: This is a sequel to Strange Days. Tenchi and Gang (inc. Mulder and Scully) face two new mysteries.
1. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo!/No Need For Tenchi is a product of  
Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this  
fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans  
of this wonderful series.  
Disclaimer: The X-Flies is the product of Chris Carter and 20th Century  
Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction  
other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this  
excellent series.  
Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess is the product of Kosuke Fujishima and What's  
Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi. As such, I'm getting no  
compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and  
to bring pleasure to the fans of both of these excellent series (this  
is here because Keiichi and Belldandy appear in one scene and Michael  
in another).  
Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear  
in this series. All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of  
fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure coincidence.  
Notes: This is Book Two in my crossover series, Strange Days. I would  
appreciate any C&C about this work. My current E-mail addresses are:  
V_Bashaw@hotmail.com  
Horosha@RC_Books.zzn.com  
The events in Book Two occur just after Episode Four ("Mihoshi Falls To  
The Land Of Stars") and in the first season of the X-Flies (both taking  
place in 1992). If anyone is interested in using any of the characters  
I have created here, please contact me first (especially about Anthony  
MacClean). I don't know much about the training and organizational  
structure of law enforcement in Nihon and have assumed that it is  
similar to ours. If you have questions about the story or how I  
portrayed the characters please read the notes at the end of this story  
and Book One, contact me at my e-mail addresses or post a message at  
the AFC message board. I have created a glossary of Nihongo words,  
idioms and titles to help readers understand them. You can get it at  
TMFFA (under Crossover) or send me e-mail requesting it.  
Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi  
Muyo to life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajshima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko, and  
Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Carter for his great series.  
Warning: Just like the Tenchi Muyo OAV and the X-Flies this work  
contains adult language and situations (including some ecchi scenes),  
so any minor should get parents' permission before reading it.  
**********  
  
Tenchi Muyo/X-Flies Crossover  
Series Title: "Strange Days"  
Book Two title: "Fire and Rain"  
A Fan-Fiction by Horosha  
Copyright: January 10, 2001  
  
Prologue: North-Forty Ranch, Kurashiki, Nihon.  
Mogami Sunao sat behind the love hotel's front desk, his brown eyes  
kept switching back-and-forth from the five-inch television in a covey  
hole just below the top to the light pink-tinted glass front door. The  
young man's associate had just stepped out to get a couple of bento  
boxes for them so he was the only one, minding the store, when the  
couple came in.  
  
Sunao's left hand hit the mute button on the remote control as he faced  
the new clients. A small smile appeared on his lips as he recognized  
Shimizu Isao, a rich man's son who is a regular, but then his gaze  
locked on the girl. While her face spoke of Asian heritage, her hair  
was blond, eyes blue, wearing a white Stetson hat, matching rhinestone  
rawhide vest, tight blue jeans and cowboy boots. 'A tsunbi (virgin)?'  
Sunao wondered, he could see anxiety and resolution fight in the girl's  
rouged face, then continued, 'It explains the outfit. She's trying to  
be a feast for his eyes to cover up how green she is.'  
  
"Konnichiwa, Lee-san," said Sunao, using the regular customer's alias  
while he gave the couple a short bow.  
  
"Konnichiwa, Sunao-san," the black-haired man replied while both  
returned the bow properly. Lee's brown eyes glance at his silent female  
companion and added, "This kaugaru (cowgirl) and I need one of your  
finest rooms."  
  
"Number 40 will match your companion's outfit. Would you like one of  
our regular girls to join your roundup?" Sunao noticed the girl's eyes  
go wide.  
  
"Not tonight, Sunao-san," a wide grin on youth's handsome face as his  
right hand slowly drifted over her firm butt. "I think this chichi  
kurushii will be all I need for tonight."  
  
"Hai, Lee-san," Sunao returned, he deposited the room key in Lee's left  
hand while making the required monetary notes disappear with a  
flourish. While the clients head for the elevator, next to the stairs,  
Sunao noted the icy glare from the female. 'Protective of her yen is  
she,' he glared back. 'I'll tell Yachitoro (Bog Master) to teach her  
the rules after Lee-san is gone. She'll learn freelancers don't make it  
in soapland.'  
  
Ten minutes later his associate returned with their food. Both ate the  
chicken from the bamboo skewers while making comments about the anime  
on television.  
  
"The akurei always has a kine (a huge penis)," commented Sunao. "I  
wished mine was that big."  
  
"Hai, the women would go crazy," replied his associate as his black  
eyes flashed with amusement.  
  
"And they have this yachigari (twat kid) taking it all in," a look of  
disgust on Sunao's face. "If that happened for real, she'd become  
twins."  
  
"Hai, twins with half of an omeko (vagina) each," a short bark comes  
from the man in the chair next to him.  
  
When Sunao finished his meal, he got up to dump the container in the  
trash. As he walked by, his companion handed his box to the smartly  
dressed man to get rid of. When the sound of wooden items echoed up  
from the metal can, the piercing siren of the North-Forty's fire alarm  
hit the two men's ears.  
  
  
"KYA, FIRE!" fear reflected in Sunao's eyes. "FAST, call 911, then  
start calling our customers. I'm going up the stairs to knock on their  
doors."  
  
"Hai, Sunao-dono," his associate answered as his left hand grabbed the  
receiver while right fingers jabbed the buttons.  
  
Sunao's quick feet reached the stairs, where he took them three at a  
time, moving with a tiger's courage to reach the first floor. At each  
door, his left fist banged on the wood and his right hand rattled the  
knob as he shouted, "FIRE!"  
  
Soon, the hall behind him was filled with naked and half-naked people,  
arms full of clothes, making a speedy exit for the stairs. The sight of  
ripe ass, flagpoles and bouncy breasts would be funny to Sunao if it  
wasn't for the fact it was happening on his watch. Stepping onto the  
second floor, the sweating man's sight revealed some customers already  
flying past him to safety. He followed the same routine but limited  
himself to unopened doors. It is on his way up to the third floor that  
Sunao caught the first scent of smoke. As fast as his tired legs can  
more, he followed the trail of smoke coming from the fourth floor.  
Holding a handkerchief to his mouth and nose, Sunao headed for the only  
occupied room on the fourth floor, number 40.  
  
Upon seeing the gray haze gliding from under the door, Sunao's right  
hand reached for the doorknob only to yank his hand back when the hot  
metal burned his hand. Picking up his pluck, he took two steps back and  
threw a sharp kick into the door with his right leg. The momentum took  
Sunao's body to the threshold as the door swung inward. The new air  
caused an explosion of flame to boil out of the room engulfing Sunao's  
frame. His reflexes prevented the heat from catching his clothes on  
fire but the red fingers whipped across his face, burning the light  
from his eyes. Staggering in the world of darkness, Sunao luckily  
reached the stairs and stumbled down them as he held onto the railing.  
  
A few minutes later Sunao's ears hear heavy steps coming up the stairs  
and a familiar voice in his ear, "Sunao-dono, what's wrong."  
  
"Oni," Sunao's face covered with tears falling from sightless eyes. "An  
oni onna dressed in flames."  
  
Sunao's associate helped him down the stairs as the sound of booted  
feet and the dragging of heavy hoses echo up to them.  
**********  
Masaki Residence  
Katsuhito calmly walked in the soft moonlight of the early night to his  
adopted son's house. The chance to watch his favorite program without  
interruption was something he couldn't pass up. With the family in  
Bisei, he would have the house all to himself. After taking his geta  
(wood sandals) off in the genkan, the elder mumbled, "How fresh the air  
is even though I haven't been in the house all day."  
  
  
On soundless feet Katsuhito checked each room but found nothing until  
he reached his grandson's room. As he examined the bed, a drop of fresh  
blood on the window's still caught his eye. The priest opened the  
window to look out. There he found two smears of dirt running  
horizontal on the outer wall. The gray-haired man lightly dropped to  
the ground, making sure to land five feet away from area below the  
bedroom window. Carefully touching the ground, Katsuhito could feel the  
grass springing back up from where a man had landed on it just minutes  
ago.  
  
When Katsuhito stood up, the heavenly radiance around the elder  
suddenly dimmed. Looking up, his red eyes caught sight of a huge  
silhouette move across the face of the Moon. Turning to his left,  
Katsuhito noted a small spark of green in the area of Ryoko's cave. "So  
Isekiwari (Ruin Breaker) has finally arrived," the wiry man commented.  
After a few minutes pass by, the ship pulled out of the orbit between  
the Earth and the Moon.  
**********  
The Soja  
Before a huge screen, Kagato studied the Jurain Tree Ship revealed by  
the glare of the Sun. His eyes narrow as he recognized the ship and he  
said to himself, "So she has come. Well, Ryoko, I'm going to let you  
have a few more days of freedom until your visitor leaves. But don't  
worry, I haven't forgotten how much you enjoyed playing with my other  
creations. By this game, I will know how well your abilities have grown  
over the past seven hundred years and the skills of the others." The  
tall figure's mind touched Soja's controls, sending the craft on a  
course to Jupiter. Then he close his red eyes as his mind extended down  
a neglected path as his cold words leave his lips, "Awaken Kuraihoshi.  
I have a little task for you to do."  
  
At the Gokoku-jinja (shrine) in Fukuyama, Yoshihiro Yonezawa noted the  
greenish glow coming from under the door of the Honden Hall (Hall of  
the Kami). Curiosity perked in his mind and his feet carried to the  
door. He was high enough in the priest's hierarchy to enter the  
holy-of-holily without offending the resident Kami. As his left-hand  
slide the door open, he found the room bathed in a radiant glow coming  
from a ruby set in a gold necklace, resting on the altar. Awe flooded  
his spirit while a soundless voice entered his mind, 'Yonezawa-sama,  
you are great in spirit. You have shown to me that you are the prefect  
vessel to carry forth my words and deeds. Come to me, touch my ki and  
we will be one.'  
  
Trained to obey, trained to believe without question and proud to be  
the chosen of the shrine's Kami, Yonezawa walked to the altar and  
closed his left hand on the glowing gem. A muted scream parted from his  
lips as he felt his soul consumed bite by bite by the invading  
creature. 'It has been centuries since I've had such a tasty morsel.  
This shell will make it possible for me to carry out Kagato-tono's  
command.' The body that once was Yoshihiro Yonezawa left Gokoku Shrine  
never to return.  
**********  
The Masaki Residence  
Katsuhito came out the dark woods, heading for the house again while  
his thoughts continued to play in his mind, 'Funaho-Ki's senses allowed  
me to track his path but by the time I reached the dirt road on the  
hill south of the lake, the person was gone. When I asked her why she  
hadn't discovered him earlier, she shamefully replied her passive  
sensor hadn't detected him. Interesting, a being able to avoid a first  
generation Ki's perception. Well, maybe I'll get a chance to see my  
second favorite show.'  
  
Still dressed in his priestly grab, the tan-faced man came around the  
south corner of the house only to see a figure walking up the dirt  
driveway from the main road. 'It seems this is a night for late  
visitors.'  
  
As Katsuhito slowly walked to meet the visitor near the starry lake,  
the moonlight washed the colors from his eyes but he could tell the  
person was a woman about his height, whose single ponytail almost  
stroked the ground. She was in a causal dress with an ankle length  
skirt, a dark heavy coat and a Russian styled fur hat. At a few feet  
from the woman, the elder stopped, gave a short bow and told her, "I'm  
sorry, the shrine is closed for the day. I can offer you the  
hospitality of segare's home for the night so you don't have to catch  
the bus back to town."  
  
Before he could react, the woman covered the space between them and  
embraced Katsuhito. The air in the priest's lungs is forced out by the  
massive hug as the lady's amused words find his ears, "Yosho-chan, have  
I changed so much that you can't recognize me?"  
  
The recognition of her voice triggered a wave of fear in his spirit for  
his greatest opponent has arrived on Earth, the Oni Hime Jurai (Demon  
Princess of Jurai). Katsuhito had just enough breath to reply,  
"Konnichiwa . . . obasama (grandmother)."  
  
The Jurain princess held her breathless grandson out at arms' length  
and said grinning, "Kya, you look older than Hajime-dono and he's just  
over two thousand years old."  
  
"Is . . . he still . . . guarding otousama?" the priest's lungs  
refusing to give up its air.  
  
"He still carries Misaki-dono's load when it comes to protecting  
Azusa-dono's," answered Seto as she turned her Katsuhito around,  
draping her left arm over his shoulders and strongly gripped his left  
arm.  
  
"And Misaki-okasama's garden?" Katsuhito tossed out a question to give  
him some time to organize his thoughts.  
  
"Like a rainbow brought down to earth," her words matched the knowing  
look in Seto's eyes. "But that's not what you want to know, ne?"  
  
"Honto ni?" asked the gray-haired man as the two walked toward the  
darkened house.  
  
"I might see old bones but I feel young flesh," amusement danced in her  
red eyes.  
  
"Oi . . ." this one word encompassed Katsuhito's fears.  
  
"Don't worry, Yosho-chan," Seto tightened her grip on his left arm. "I  
carry a thousand secrets no one knows about."  
  
A sigh of relief escaped Katsuhito's thin lips.  
**********  
  
Onsen, Bisei  
The air crackled with electricity as Mihoshi's blond head came up to  
view the broken cement, bare wires and shattered plaster around her  
prone body. Her sapphire eyes water from the heavy smoke but she  
ignored all the destruction around her except for one item, the slender  
arm in a blue tattered shirtsleeve sticking out from under a huge block  
of pseudo-marble.  
  
"Kiyone?" her pink lips speckled blood on the ground in front of her.  
  
"Kiyone!" she tried to shout but only got blood choked words out.  
Mihoshi's mind filled with confusion over why her body won't take her  
to her dearest friend. Her pointed ears detect the sound of running  
feet and she commanded in slow words, "Help . . . Kiyone."  
  
Her vision started to darken at the edges as several sets of black  
booted feet and a pair of knees comes into view. "MEDIC, OFFICERS  
DOWN," shouted a voice just above her head. "Bring the LIFE SUPPORT  
GENERATORS, NOW!"  
  
"Please . . . Kiyone," tired words sighed from Mihoshi's pretty mouth  
while her consciousness disappeared.  
  
The sound of Sasami opening the outer sliding door, to the room the  
sisters shared with the officer, brought Mihoshi out of the shadows of  
the past. She knew it was only a remembrance but she couldn't stop the  
tears from trickling out of her closed eyes as one word leaked from her  
cringing lips, "Kiyone."  
**********  
  
Chapter One: Landslide  
Masaki Residence  
In the kitchen, Katsuhito poured water in the steel teakettle and  
placed it on the blue flame of the right front burner, then turned back  
to his most recent visitor and calmly said, "So the Oken Iinkai Jurai  
received Funaho-Ki's signal."  
  
"I don't really know," replied his grandmother with a sly look on her  
beautiful face while she sat on a tall stool next to the kitchen's  
island. "I'm here on my own initiative."  
  
"Oi . . . so you're here in your other capacity," the elder's sly look  
matched Seto's.  
  
"I just came to see how my grandchildren are doing," her voice equal to  
the amusement in her red eyes.  
  
"You know about Ayeka and Sasami?" asked the priest.  
  
"Yosho-dono, someone would have to steal my eyes for me not to see  
Ryu-oh at the bottom of the lake," a small smile graced her lips.  
  
  
"But that's not the only reason, na?" Katsuhito asked as he opened the  
cover's door to get the container of green tea.  
  
"I've come to warn you," a serious tone entered the tall lady's words.  
"Kagato-san is here."  
  
"I know," replied gray-haired man.  
  
"Ara . . ." fear in Seto's one word.  
  
"He went to Ryo . . ." Katsuhito is unable to stop his words but saw  
the flicking smile on Seto's face and gave his grandmother a stern  
look.  
  
"So the story you told Azusa-dono was not true," calmness in the  
blue-haired lady's words.  
  
"Not completely," Katsuhito sighed. "I defeated Ryoko-dono but I hid  
her in a cave near the shrine."  
  
"But why lie to your otousama," a touch of curiosity in Seto's words as  
she noted the honorific Katsuhito used.  
  
"To defeat Ryoko-dono, I had to merge her Gems with Tenchiken," a trace  
of the emotion of that day entered his voice. "When I succeed, her  
memories flooded into my ki, some she didn't even remember."  
  
"And what did they tell you?" prodded the lady in the light blue dress.  
  
"That she was not responsible for her crimes," Katsuhito tried to  
control his emotions. "She was controlled like a puppet by Kagato-san."  
  
"How did it happen?" wonderment in Seto's voice.  
  
"I learned Ryoko-dono was created by someone close to you, obasama,"  
sadness entered the elder's words. "She was lovely nurtured by this  
person into a kirei ojosan (a pretty young girl) but then Kagato-san  
caged her creator and erased Ryoko-dono's original ki, replacing it  
with what became the akurei of hakai."   
  
"Who created the akurei?" a dangerous tone entered the beautiful lady's  
words.  
  
"Hakubi Washu," Katsuhito answered.  
  
"Washu-chan!" Seto cried with a mix of unsurpassed affection and  
sadness.  
  
"Hai," continued the gray-haired man. "I couldn't destroy Ryoko-dono,  
not after what Kagato-san had done to her but I couldn't restore her  
first ki nor could I turn her over to otousama because he would have  
treated her like a weapon. The only thing I could do was to seal her in  
a cave and pray to Tsunami-megami that something could be done to save  
her."  
  
"Were your prayers answered, Yosho-dono?" Seto's eyes full of hope.  
  
"Hai. In the form of your great-great-grandson, Tenchi," replied  
Katsuhito as he prepared himself for her reaction.  
  
"An HIMUSUKO (great-grandson)," shouted Seto as she leaped from her  
seat to embrace her grandson with her strong arms. After a few minutes  
of motherly joy and the sound of bones popping, Yosho's grandmother  
held him at arms' length and happily asked, "When do I get to see him?"  
  
"He's . . . with . . . Ayeka, Sasami, Ryoko-dono and his otousan,"  
Katsuhito struggled to regain his breath. "They went to an onsen in a  
nearby town and will be back tomorrow morning."  
  
"Gu," the joyful music in that one word is quickly replaced with  
concern. "The akurei is with our children?"  
  
"Without Ryoko-dono's presence we would've lost one of those children,"  
guilt encased his words.  
  
"Ayeka-chan," a cold gaze entered Seto's eyes.  
  
"When Ayeka discovered I had betrayed her koi (romantic love) for me by  
remaining here and marrying another, it destroyed the plans she had  
crafted for the last seven hundred years," confessed Seto's grandson.  
  
Seto's eyes grew wide with dread at what Katsuhito was implying and she  
asked, "But Ryu-oh would've comforted her."  
  
"Mo. In her obsession to find me, she tortured Ryoko-dono and made it  
quite clear what she planned to do to the uchu kaizoku," every fiber in  
the man's body could feel Seto's hard gaze. "Ryoko-dono had no choice  
but to crash Ryu-oh and the crash damage temporary suppressed the link  
between Ayeka and her bondmate until it could repair itself."  
  
"You didn't help her?" an accusing tone in Seto's words.  
  
"Mo, I thought Ayeka's ki to be like iron but I discovered too late her  
despair made her want to cry tears of blood," the elder lowered his  
head.  
  
"If you didn't save Ayeka-chan then who . . ." Seto's anger faulted.  
  
"Ryoko-dono," Katsuhito's head snapped up to face his grandmother.  
  
"The akurei?" Seto wondered.  
  
"That 'akurei' saved Ayeka's life, that 'akurei' prevented a great  
dishonor from staining our kazoku and that 'akurei' has done everything  
to atone for the blood on her hands," deep respect echoed in the  
priest's words.  
  
A small smile appeared on Seto's face before she said, "You show deep  
feelings for her."  
  
Katsuhito's eyes roll upward when he realized he had fallen for one of  
his grandmother's tricks. He released a sigh and countered, "By  
touching Ryoko-dono's mind, by living her memories, I couldn't deny  
salvation to her."  
  
"So your magomusuko (grandson) is her salvation?" Seto asked.  
  
"Originally I didn't think so," deep sorrow entered the elder's tone.  
"Eighteen years ago I believed my musume, Achika, was destined to free  
Ryoko-dono from her prison but it was a false hope. Her life was given  
for something I couldn't see."  
  
"I feel the pain in your heart, Yosho-dono," soft words left her sad  
lips as she reached forward with her right hand to remove the tiny gem  
of love from his tanned cheek for she knew how much pain it took to  
bring this kind of emotional display from her grandson.  
  
"Before Achika died, she gave birth to Tenchi," Katsuhito gained some  
control over his feelings. "Eleven months later as I was grinding my  
mind over how to help Ryoko-dono, I saw my musume carrying Tenchi in a  
haversack on her back, near the entrance to Ryoko-dono's cave. Because  
of my training as a Shinto priest, I could see a ghostly image of a  
young woman with long cyan hair at the cave's mouth."  
  
"Ryoko-san?" a tone of amazement in Seto's words.  
  
The priest nodded and continued, "But I wasn't the only one who could  
see her. When Achika started to pass the opening, Tenchi let out a  
little cry as his left hand reached out to Ryoko-dono's astral body."  
  
Seto's face went slightly pale at her grandson's words before she  
stated, "For him to see and react to Ryoko-san like that, there has to  
be a deep link between the two."  
  
"Furthermore, someone had to help Ryoko-dono to project her astral body  
for she had tried so many times before without success," acknowledged  
the gray-haired man.  
  
"Tsunami-megami!" the tall lady added as she got off the stool while  
Katsuhito removed the whistling kettle and turned off the burner. "But  
Ryoko-san attacked Jurai, murdered her people and destroyed her ships.  
Why would she bond an enemy with your son?"  
  
"I'm not certain but I do have a question for you, obasama," requested  
the elder as he poured the hot water over the tealeaves into a ceramic  
teapot. "I know Sasami went through the Seijingi (Spirit Concern) but  
was the Seikizuna (Spirit bond) performed with her."  
  
  
"Hai," enlightenment entered the blue-haired lady's eyes. "With  
Tsunami-megami."  
  
"Then Tsunami-megami is now a ship?" asked Katsuhito as he led his  
grandmother out of the kitchen to the chabudai (a low table) in the  
living room. In his leathery hands, he carried the teapot and a pair of  
small white cups on a tray decorated with the images of pink cherry  
blossoms.  
  
"Hai, the most powerful ship in the universe," nodded Seto but then she  
frowned, "but the ship disappeared seven hundred years ago."  
  
"The same time Sasami went with Ayeka to search for me?" questioned her  
grandson.  
  
"Hai, although Tsunami-megami continued to communicate to us though the  
Trees' group mind," answered the tall lady as she knelt on the blue  
pillow at the front of the table while her grandson knelt on her right.  
  
"With Sasami being the bondmate of Tsunami-megami, it could explain a  
few things that have left me feeling like I was fooled by a fox,"  
Katsuhito added while he filled the cups with the green liquid.  
  
"Let me guess," Seto said as she accepted the cup from her grandson.  
"Tsunami-megami decisions have always been coldly logical, but now that  
has changed. Besides her decision to help Ryoko-san, she has stopped  
giving commands to your otousama. Instead she gives him advice as does  
the Trees to their bondmates."  
  
The elder nodded, took a sip of his drink and replied, "Tsunami-megami  
is showing an almost human nature and I think it's because something  
happened during Sasami's Seikizuna."  
  
"What?" concern in her red eyes as she took a small sip and savored the  
tea's flavor.  
  
"I don't know for sure," replied the elder. "The only thing I can be  
certain are both Sasami and Tsunami-megami have the same aura."   
  
"How do you know this?" shock in Seto's voice.  
  
"Sasami's petto was accidentally killed during Ryu-oh's crash-landing.  
We did the Wakare Ni Shindeiru for it and Sasami did the sacred dance,"  
replied the gray-haired man. "When Tsunami-megami entered her body,  
Sasami's aura grew stronger instead of being overshadowed and when  
Tsunami-megami left her, her aurora decreased slowly instead of  
immediately."  
  
"For them to have the same aura, Sasami-chan would have to become a  
part of Tsunami-megami and the Seikizuna only creates a psychic link  
between the Tree and the bondmate," countered Seto, she took a sip from  
her blue teacup.  
  
"Under normal conditions this would be true," admitted the priest, he  
offered more tea to the tall lady. "But Sasami bonded with  
Tsunami-megami, Saishono Ki Jurai (First Tree of Jurai)."  
  
"Yosho-dono," Seto's red eyes fill with comprehension as she held out  
her cup to accept the offer. "You believe because of Tsunami-megami's  
special nature, the Seikizuna went beyond the regular bonding."  
  
"Hai but this led me to a question which brought pain to my head," the  
elder added while pouring the tea.  
  
"Why Sasami-chan?" guessed the blue-haired woman, she takes a small sip  
from the hot tea.  
  
"If Tsunami-megami had chosen someone of greatness to bond with, I  
could understand it," the sip of the tea covered the visible concern on  
his old lips. "But her choice was a kochan of no power or influence,  
whose future is likely a cold marriage bed with an ambitious man."  
  
"There is probably a reason, Yosho-dono," Seto calmly retorted, she  
took another sip of the green drink. "Each Tree selected by  
Tsunami-megami to bond with a Masaki family member has been special.  
Within Azusa-dono's Kirito-Ki is the ki of Mitsuki-sama, Funaho-dono's  
and my musume's bonding with Nijumi-Ki (Mizu-ho and Kar-in) gave to  
them the closeness of lovers, your Funaho-Ki's motherly nature is  
similar to Funaho-dono's and there is an unshakable loyalty between  
Ayeka-dono and Ryu-oh."  
  
"Well, it's getting late and we can puzzle over these questions during  
the rest of your stay," suggested Katsuhito as he stood up and offered  
his right hand to his grandmother. "Let me show you to our guestroom."  
  
Seto gave the offered arm a contemptuous smile, then bounced up on her  
legs and said to him, "Yosho-dono, my years haven't reduced to needing  
a cane."  
  
The priest suppressed a little smile as he led her up the living room  
stairs. When they reached the second level, the red-eyed man asked, "I  
always wondered how you met Hakubi Washu. Can you tell me?"  
  
Seto's eyes gain a distance gaze in them and replied, "The first memory  
my mind has is the sad face of a redheaded girl holding me in her firm  
embrace as I cried on her soft chest."  
  
"What happened?" concern in Katsuhito's voice as he took her to the  
guestroom's door.  
  
"Before Kamiki Ushio became my satooya (foster parent), I was the child  
of a Jurain treasure hunter named Yokai. He was searching the ruins on  
a planet called K1190 when the world was attacked by uchu kaizokus. I  
was six years old thus the savagery of the attack destroyed my memory.  
I only know that both Ushio-dono and Washu-chan found me wandering over  
the ravaged landscape," Seto's voice filled with sorrow. "The little  
scientist tenderly took care of me for two years while Ushio-otousama  
searched for my relatives but he couldn't find any."  
  
"Gomen nasai, obasama" Katsuhito's tone matched hers as his left hand  
slid the door open for the blue-haired woman.  
  
"Since Ushio-dono's offspring were all grown up, he decided to bring me  
into his family," tears made the tall lady's eyes glisten. "My heart  
broke when I had to leave Washu-chan because we both lost something  
precious on that planet, I lost my past and she lost her best friend,  
Akara Naja."  
  
"Maybe we can help Washu-dono?" words of comfort leave the gray-haired  
man's thin lips as his weathered right hand rested on her left  
shoulder.  
  
"I hope so, she was once an okasama to a lost child," answered Seto as  
her right hand patted his hand entering the room.  
  
"Oyasumi, obasama" added Katsuhito, he closed the door behind her.  
  
"Oyasumi . . . Yosho-dono," a sob fragmented Seto's reply.  
**********  
'Seto-chan,' echoed within the mind of the little prisoner in the  
crystal monolith. 'So you have come to see what Tsunami-megami has  
helped bring into being on that little blue marble, but please don't  
help me. A thousand tears fill my ki and I don't think I could live  
with one more . . .' Washu's mind dropped back down the path of days  
already gone by to find herself standing on a flat plain with two hot  
suns burning down from the white sky. Next to her stood the Jurain  
noble, Kamiki Ushio, his craggy face wet but the stinging particles of  
sand in the wind weren't the reason for his tears. In front of them are  
several clear glass headstones, each with a name of a person who  
shouldn't have to die so young. Behind the tall sky-blue-haired man and  
the fiery-haired girl were the remnants of the scientists and treasure  
hunters the two had rescued from the uchu kaizokus' attack.   
  
"Gomen nasai, Washu-chan. I couldn't save her," his words barely  
recognizable over the howling east wind. "Naja-dono and you were my  
friends as well as my sensei. The rest of my life will be a little more  
empty without her."  
  
"I knew Naja-dono was dead the moment her ki screamed across the void  
to me," her voice deadened by grief, her green eyes unable to shed any  
more tears.  
  
Just then the sound of heedless crying reached the small group's ears.  
From behind the farthest headstone a blue-haired child stumbled out to  
land on all fours. The little one struggled to stand but the wild wind  
yanked the babe off her feet and went tumbling into a marker. Washu  
could feel the rag-covered tot's howls of agony rip across her soul and  
without knowing how she got there, the ageless girl was on her knees  
with arms full of a weeping girl.  
  
"Does anyone know the kazoku this child belongs to?" Ushio shouted over  
his shoulder.  
  
"She was with her father," replied a scientist, his right arm in a  
magno-cast. "He died helping Naja-sensei against the murderers."  
  
"Without their sacrifice we wouldn't be alive," stated a female  
treasure hunter with jet-black hair.   
  
"I'll find someone to take care of her while we search for her  
relatives," there was certainty in the noble's strong voice as he came  
to stand next to Washu and the child. "We owe him that much."  
  
"There is no need to find someone," answered the kneeling Washu, her  
head buried in the little one's tangled hair as her own salty rivers  
mingled with the child's own. "I'll take care of the akachan."  
  
Sudden understanding hit Ushio's mind and he replied, "Hai."  
  
Washu's mind rebounded back out of the land of yesterday with a  
desperation born of affection, 'For once I plead to whatever controls  
our fates, spare my Hoshi-chan (little star) from whatever curse is  
riding my back that denies happiness to those I love.'  
  
A light breath blew over the ocean of her consciousness then vanished  
as quickly as it came. The threat of tears disappeared as the warmth  
the breeze left behind dispelled Washu's fear. 'Domo arigato  
gozaimasu,' thanked the woman in children's guise.  
**********  
Langly looked at the glowing numbers on his watch as he waited for the  
witching hour to arrive.  
  
"Late as usual?" Frohike's words mumbled by the plastic straw in his  
mouth.  
  
"In about three minutes he will be," answered blond longhair after  
swallowing the last bite of his chicken fingers.  
  
"He wouldn't be the Single Bullet if he was on time," countered Byers  
as he deposited the foam container that once held his dinner.  
  
"You know when Mulder requested information on the Single Bullet, I  
didn't realize how little we know about him," Langly stated. "The false  
birth record threw us off at first, but then we contacted the mother,  
who told us the infant died in childbirth."  
  
"The first real bit of information is his participation in NICAP before  
going to Japan in 1972," added Byers. "Before that we have only rumors  
about him being in Russia, China, Vietnam and other countries around  
the globe."  
  
"A real globetrotter," voiced Frohike as he made a three-point shot  
with his emptied paper cup. "I wonder why he left NICAP to join us?"  
  
"Well, the Lone Gunmen is a smaller organization with very limited  
contact with each member," replied Byers. "Unlike NICAP which has been  
infiltrated by the different shadow governments a long time ago."  
  
"I find it strange he would select Japan to be his home turf,"  
continued the short bald man. "A place where a round eye would stick  
out like a sore thumb, especially with the guise he took on."  
  
"A high profile position which his antics made more so," as Langly  
words leave his lips, the computer's monitor came to life.  
  
SB: What happens when Socks meets Buster.  
  
LG: The dog has cat for dinner.  
  
SB: Well, at least I don't go to any eatery near an animal shelter.  
  
LG: What's the scoop?  
  
SB: Operation Catwoman is up and running. The family left for a weekend  
splash at a hot spring so I built my blind and placed my eyes and ears  
in every important location about the house and property but I couldn't  
get the shrine because the old priest stayed behind. I also didn't  
touch the sacred tree or the cave because both places give me the  
creeps.  
  
LG: Anything else to report.  
  
SB: Just that I got really lucky. While placing the bugs in the house  
the old man walked in and almost caught me. I got out through a third  
story window and you know what, the priest dropped out of the same  
window just minutes behind me. God, he must be in great shape to pull  
that off at his age! It took a UFO to distract him long enough for me  
to get away.  
  
LG: A UFO!  
  
SB: Something gigantic passed between the Earth and the Moon. I didn't  
get a good look because I was making tracks. You might want to check it  
out.  
  
LG: Will do. Is there anything else?  
  
SB: My beeper went off just before I logged on. One of my many  
listeners reported a strange occurrence near the town of Bisei.  
  
LB: You're going there?  
  
SB: It might be interesting.  
  
LB: Keep us posted.  
  
SB: Roger Wilco, over and out.  
**********  
Kuraihoshi worked his way out of the park surrounding the Shinto shrine  
as his brown eyes beheld the buildings of brick and mortar embraced by  
a land of concrete and asphalt. "These primitives are more interested  
in making copies of themselves instead of making a better world," the  
body snatcher muttered in disgust. "Well, more nourishment for me."  
  
The body's ears heard an approaching noise to the right. The creature  
turned the shell to behold a blue metal box on wheels. "Ah . . . basic  
transportation with a snack in it," the words matched the evil smirk on  
the body's lips. When the car reached spitting distance of the body,  
Kuraihoshi moved it into the vehicle's path.  
  
Irie Hamaji was listening to Komo Toko on her Mitsubishi's CD player  
when a figure of white and blue appeared in her high beams. A widening  
of her brown eyes is all she could do as a heavy thump told her the  
result. The young girl with black hair with a dusting of gold flakes  
upon her face screeched her car to a stop, threw the driver's door open,  
got out and ran to the body on the road. A pure look of horror gripped  
her spirit as she crouched to shake the broken form with her left hand.  
  
"SOMEONE! GET THE KEISA . . . " her screamed words freeze in her throat  
as an icy hand gripped her outstretched hand. Her mind felt a presence  
entered her body and started to consume her consciousness. Unlike the  
previous feeding Kuraihoshi slowly sucked in pieces of her being so he  
could delight in the whimpers escaping her painted lips, whimpers  
caused by the waves of pleasure and pain on her petite body. Later, the  
cold hand of the broken body dropped to the ground while a female body  
stood up and commented, "I've forgotten how luscious a female spirit  
was. Their fears, their lusts and their hopes are so open, so  
unrestricted."  
  
The body in the short red miniskirt walked back to the car, entered it  
and closed the door. "Ahhh . . . what is that horrible sound," pain  
lashed Kuraihoshi's being. The body's eyes catch sight of the spinning  
dish in the CD player and without thought Kuraihoshi had the right-hand  
smash repeatedly into the device, ignoring the ripped skin and flesh.  
Once the noise stopped, the creature focused the body's senses back on  
the rest of the machine's interior. At each button or switch the being  
found, he activated it, watched the result and then turned it off. With  
methodically patience, the inhabitant learned the how the machine  
function. He tested the steering wheel in front of him and felt the  
vehicle's front wheels match its movement. When the body snatcher  
pressed the pedals on the floor, the body's ears told him the right one  
caused the machine's propulsion system to make more noise and one of  
the many dials to register something called rpms stick, but the left  
pedal seemed to do nothing. Finally, the creature noted the stick  
between the front bucket seats and noted the settings along its side.  
He grabbed the stick with the wounded hand and pulled it down one  
setting. No response came from the vehicle so he used the slender right  
leg to push on the right pedal. The black device sluggishly moved  
forward with a grinding noise. Checking the settings again the body's  
brown eyes saw a lever next to the left hand pulled all the way back.  
The hand with the gold painted fingernails grasped the lever and tried  
to push it in be it wouldn't bulge. Then the feeling in the hand told  
him the lever had a button on it. He pushed the button on it and the  
lever went in with ease. Again the right foot carefully pressed the  
right pedal, this time the big mechanism moved smoothly forward and  
quickly picked up speed. Because of the response of the vehicle's front  
wheels to the round object in front of him, the creature took hold of  
the wheel with both hands. The long fingered hands made small left and  
right turns with the steering wheel and noted with satisfaction the  
corresponding responses from the car. 'This machine isn't much  
different from the other ground movers I've used and these black paths  
are similar to other ones designed for such transportation devices,'  
arrogance in the being's thoughts.  
  
Kuraihoshi turned the car one-eighty to put it on the course his master  
commanded him to go, barely missing a parked car and a black van, with  
speakers on top, moving the opposite direction. Hearing the angry  
shouts from behind him, the being smirked, "You are lucky I have to put  
business before pleasure." The black car disappeared into the early  
morning night.  
**********  
6:55 a.m. NZK Headquarters, Tokyo  
The city bus dropped Mulder and Scully in front of the glass and steel  
mountain, which represent law and order in Nihon. As the two walked  
toward the front entrance, the brown-haired man asked, "Did you get the  
paper?"  
  
"Yes," replied the redhead as she offered a copy of the 'Matsumoto  
Standard' to him. The green-eyed man found his partner had already  
opened the modest-sized paper to the want ads, with a bright red circle  
around one of them.  
  
"Is this what you were looking for, Mulder?" curiosity in her voice.  
  
"So you guessed, Scully?" a sly look on her partner's face.  
  
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the only reason  
you would want the local paper is that Matsumoto was Hideyuki's  
hometown," explained the emerald-eyed lady.  
  
"So you put two-and-two together and came up with this ad for a room  
for rent," a small smile appeared on Mulder's lips as both went through  
the well-balanced glass doors.  
  
"By Hideyuki Noryuri," added the puzzled woman as she pushed the button  
for the elevator. "I just wonder why such interest in his family?"  
  
"Just something I need to take care of, nothing more," replied the man  
in the brown suit and matching tie.  
  
"We'll see, Mulder," her words made Mulder's attempt at an angelic pose  
look more like a cat who swallowed the carney.  
  
When the elevator's door open Scully entered first followed by Mulder.  
As the small room made it way up the guts of the tower, the short lady  
is unable to see the taller man's face or she would have noticed the  
smile of before has dropped away. Guilt touched his spirit as his  
memory conjured up the words he had heard in the glass tower after  
young Hideyuki's funeral, 'his okasama has a musume and ojiisama to  
take care of . . . she will lose the house unless she can find a good  
boarder . . . the gaijin won't carry his responsibility . . .' Words  
spoken only because those around him thought he couldn't comprehend  
them.  
  
The sudden feeling of weightlessness told Scully that the room had  
reached their destination. The metal door opened to a wide room where  
her eyes could see multiple desks and her eyes could hear the chaotic  
noise of voices and machines. The short lady stepped onto the white  
tiled floor and headed toward their office on the other side of the  
room but stopped when she noticed something is wrong. Turning  
one-sixty, Scully sight beheld Mulder's unmoving form. "Mulder, aren't  
you coming?" concern in the tone of her voice.  
  
"Oh . . . just woolgathering, Scully," replied Mulder as he scooted  
between the closing door to join her.  
  
The pair walked down the room's main lane to their private office.  
Mulder could tell from the knowing glances Scully kept giving him along  
the way he needed to knock her off that train of thought. As they  
neared the door, the clean-shaven man asked, "When is your first date  
with Nobuyuki going to be?"  
  
Scully's right hand froze halfway to the door, her emerald eyes as big  
as saucers while her mouth dropped open and said, "What . . ."  
  
"Well, it's been three weeks since you two danced together, although  
usually the first dance is part of the initial date," a thin smile  
touched Mulder's lips. "But I don't count the party at the Masaki home  
unless you plan to put this on the fast track."  
  
"Mulder, what weed did you smoke to get such fantasies," Scully replied  
under her breath.  
  
"Scully, you know the only smoked things that past through these lips  
are oysters," Mulder smirked.  
  
"Which could explain this fixation on other people's hormones," Scully  
frowned as she reached again for the door.  
  
"Let me get that for you, Miss Scully," an out-of-breath voice came  
from behind them, spoken in English. A young lady rushed between the  
pair, spun on her heels, bowed to each of them while her well-manicured  
left hand opened the door.  
  
"Late again, Miss Tac . . ." Mulder's composure disappeared as he  
fumbled over her name.  
  
"Tachibana Reiko," Scully remained her partner.  
  
"Miss Tachibana," Mulder finished.  
  
"I had to make sure Michael was fine before I left this morning," a  
tone of shame in the black-haired woman's voice.  
  
"Don't worry, Ta . . . chi . . ." Mulder bungled again, then said,  
"Hell, can I call you Reiko."  
  
Her right hand came up to cover the tiny smile on her red lips and  
replied, "That would be fine, sir."  
  
"Call me, Mulder," added the brown-haired man.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Mulder," Reiko returned, she walked quickly to her desk in  
the outer office and turned on the computer.  
  
"Reiko, just Mulder, okay," Mulder's friendly smile removed the edge  
from his retort.  
  
"Okay," a touch of blush came to Reiko's round cheeks. With Scully a  
few steps behind him, Mulder is unable to see the smile on her red lips  
as she thought, 'Mulder doesn't realize what he just did.'  
  
Mulder turned and headed for the inner office door with Scully on his  
heels. When his hand grasped the doorknob, he commented to his fellow  
American, "This Michael must be something special for her to be late at  
work every day."  
  
"Especially here in Nihon where being on time is a national obsession,"  
added the redhead, she walked through the opened door.  
  
"He must be really good in bed for her to be reluctant to leave in the  
morning," continued the man with mischief in his pale green eyes as he  
followed her in and closed the door.  
  
Scully rolled her eyes but then the lopsided smile reappeared on her  
face, "Nothing says it couldn't be female."  
  
The laughter in Mulder's soul stumbled over Scully's words, "Er . . . I  
wonder when we get our first case?"  
  
"Unknown Mulder but at least we're no longer in the basement," Scully  
responded as she looked out the window to see the glass and steel  
mountains with concrete valleys and paths of black ribbon.  
  
"I don't know about that, Scully," Mulder frowned. "It STILL feels like  
a cage to me."  
  
"Even a gold cage is still a cage, is that it?" asked Scully, she made  
her way to her own desk.  
  
"Something like that," answered the suspicious man, he made his way to  
his desk.  
  
"At least we're ranked high enough to have a private secretary," her  
right hand turned on her desktop computer.  
  
"Or a private spy," Mulder countered.  
  
"You don't trust people do you, Mulder," a disappointed Scully  
commented.  
  
"Trust must always be earned, not blindly given," Mulder's eyes flash  
with conviction.  
  
"Has anyone ever earned your trust?" Scully's words shot back to her  
partner.  
  
"Yes, a handful," Mulder's tone softened as his mind's eye envisioned  
two figures, one with amber eyes and the other with pools of pink.  
**********  
Nobuyuki guided the brown van down the country road from Bisei with the  
stormy words of the old lady still ringing in his ears, but those words  
drop away as his mind filled with more beautiful images. Ryoko's  
interception of his attempt to get his son to view the lady's section  
of the onsen was unexpected but the results were magnificent. From his  
perfect position near the corner of the bamboo fence, his brown eyes  
could see every spot in the forbidden land. He could see Tenchi's pale  
face of shyness turned away from the approaching naked Ryoko while both  
were in the hot water. The uchu kaizoku knelt just behind his son and  
draped her self upon the boy, which drained whatever color still in his  
son's face. Nobuyuki's ears couldn't catch the exchange between Ryoko  
and Tenchi but he could tell, from the small smile on the ample lady's  
lips and his son's continued embarrassment, they were sweet on each  
other.  
  
When Sasami came out of women's dressing room with a pink towel around  
her preteen body and Ryo-ohki on her head, the middle-age man was glad  
the child had covered herself for he didn't want to miss any of the  
events due to the child's appearance. The little one gave a happy  
greeting to the couple, then shouted to her sister to come. Nobuyuki  
frowned at his son's attempt to escape and thought, 'Does he need to be  
that bashful?'  
  
Nobuyuki had to choke back his laughter when Ayeka came out took one  
look at Tenchi and bolted back indoor. A puzzled Sasami went to see  
what was wrong with her sister. His ears detected notes of argument  
between the two princesses as the smile on the ample lady's face became  
sly while his son's eyebrow twitched. The curvy woman floated up and  
away from the youth and passed through the wall. One of the feminine  
voices reached a new level of pitch when Ryoko pulled Ayeka back into  
view as Sasami followed by the normal way. He could tell from Ryoko's  
tone and gestures she was goading Ayeka to join Tenchi but everything  
went quiet when something seemed to pass between his son and the older  
princess. Ayeka let out a girlish cry while a goofy grin spread across  
her face but Nobuyuki's vision saw Ryoko's left hand stealthily pull  
Ayeka's towel away. The scream of modesty, the splash of his son  
falling back in a faint, the chortle of female laughter and Sasami's  
voice of concern came in rapid succession while the older man softly  
commented, "Ayeka's chichi (tits) are kawaii but chiisai (small), maybe  
she's still developing."  
  
Ryoko continued to laugh as Ayeka wrapped the towel back around and  
Sasami took Tenchi behind the boulder. Tenchi's father could plainly  
hear the child playfully accuse his son of being a naughty boy. The  
young man tried to lie his way out of it but his words only aroused  
both the girl's and the cabbit's curiosity to the point where he  
confessed his naughtiness and the little one forgave him. 'Well,  
Sasami-chan knows about the birds-and-the-bees,' Nobuyuki commented  
mentally.  
  
Exchange of words from Ayeka and Ryoko drew the trio's attention back  
to them. Again Nobuyuki couldn't make out what Ryoko or Ayeka was  
saying but when Ryoko brought her face just inches from the princess'  
bosom Ayeka slapped the uchu kaizoku's left cheek which the cyan-haired  
woman returned with a double whack. 'Ara . . . I think the neko fight I  
told Tenchi about is about to start,' a touch of fear edged his  
thoughts as he remembered a certain bridge was demolished the last time  
these two tangled.  
  
When Nobuyuki saw Ryoko called up the demon to answer Ayeka's attack,  
he decided his perverted nature was well satisfied and he headed down  
the rocks as quick as his big feet allow him to. He barely reached the  
room him and Tenchi was sharing when the sounds of screams, shattered  
bamboo and splintering wood bombarded his ears. In minutes, Tenchi  
burst into the room, made his way to his suitcase, opened it, slipped  
on the pants he took out and grabbed Tenchiken.  
  
"OTOUSAN! Stay here!" shouted the brown-eyed youth. "An AKUREI is on a  
rampage!"  
  
"Ryoko-san's belly is boiling over?" asked Nobuyuki, trying to look  
innocent.  
  
"Hai . . . mo . . . I mean the akurei she called up, is in a rage,"  
Tenchi replied over his shoulder as he hurried out the room.  
  
The noise of ruin continued for about another ten minutes before  
silence reached Tenchi fathers' ears. Leaving the room, the nearly  
naked man worked his way down the hall with eyes full of amazement at  
the broken onsen. The bespectacled man is half through the facility  
when his ears hear voices of Ryoko, Ayeka and Sasami.  
  
"Oi . . . this woman weighs a ton. Why didn't you help us carry her,  
Ryoko-san?" came the voice of Ayeka.  
  
"My hands were full," replied the voice of Ryoko.  
  
"You could have teleported Tenchi-sama here then come back to help us  
instead of walking all the way here while Sasami and I struggled to  
bring her along," Ayeka countered.  
  
"But it's so fun this way," amusement in the uchu kaizoku's voice.  
  
Nobuyuki followed the voices to the onsen's lady's dressing room where  
he pressed himself against the doorway to catch every word the trio  
spoke.  
  
"Oneesama, isn't that a uniform she's wearing?" asked the voice of  
Sasami.  
  
"Hai, it looks familiar but I can't place it," a thoughtful tone in  
Ayeka voice but the thump of flesh against wood quickly brought  
sharpness to it, "RYOKO-SAN! Why did you take Tenchi-sama's PANTS OFF?"  
  
"Kya, do you want Tenchi to get sick from the wet clothes?" retorted  
the cyan-haired woman.  
  
"Sasami! Don't look!" ordered Ayeka while the rustle of cloth could be  
heard.  
  
"Ara . . . oneesama, you don't need to cover my eyes. I know where  
babies come from," a frustrated tone in Sasami's words. "Besides I  
think Tenchi-neechan's mono is kawaii."  
  
"Sasami! Where did you pick up such language?" shock making Ayeka's  
words very sharp.  
  
"Don't glare at me, oujosama," Ryoko retorted in a playfully accusing  
tone. "You're the one who used bad language in front of her, Remember."  
  
"Eh . . . just get some underwear on him," a touch of embarrassment in  
the ruby-eyed lady's words.  
  
"I can do that before breakfast," the amber-eyed woman replied. "I just  
happen to have one of Tenchi's boxers here."  
  
"What were you doing with Tenchi-niichan's underwear?" asked a  
perplexed Sasami.  
  
"Don't answer, Ryoko-san!" Ayeka sternly commanded.  
  
"Oujosama, your words say no but your blush says yes," Ryoko gleefully  
countered, again the sound of flesh thumping against wood told Nobuyuki  
of Ryoko placing Tenchi's shorts on the youth.  
  
"Ayeka-neechan, you're blushing," then a mirthful tone hit Sasami  
words, "You're both being yancha (naughty), just like Tenchi-niichan!"  
  
"Sasami, don't be baka wa," her words betrayed by the darkening of her  
red cheeks which produced a tinkle of giggles from the blue-haired  
child and a chuckle from Ryoko's lips.  
  
Just then Nobuyuki heard a moan from a voice he had never heard before.  
As the conversation started the unknown voice identified herself as  
First Class Detective Kuramitsu Mihoshi of the Galaxy Police, the  
person who was now sitting in the shotgun seat next to him while he  
drove the van. She was a tall, buxom, dark skin woman with non-Asian  
features similar to Ryoko's, including the incisors whose white tips  
are just visible against her dark lips. The top of her head is crowned  
with wavy blond hair tied into place by a short dark brown ribbon.  
While the older man could appreciate the beauty in the GP uniform, it  
was the haunted look in those lake blue eyes that drew sympathy from  
Nobuyuki's heart for he had seen such a look twelve years ago, in the  
reflection of a bathroom mirror.  
  
For the first couple of hours, Mihoshi vibrated with excitement over  
the new sights and sounds her senses showed her, the craggy mountains  
covered with trees, the deep valleys with well-crafted farms, orchards  
with fall leaves and the peaceful towns with friendly people. Added to  
this are people within this vehicle, people willing to let her stay  
with them. There was Tenchi, the brown-haired youth that saved her  
life, sitting on the right side of the backseat and dressed in a dark  
green suit with a matching heavy coat. Next to him were the two Jurain  
princesses, the proper Ayeka in her dark blue kimono and light blue coat  
and the merry Sasami dressed in her green and pink children's kimono  
with a bright yellow coat; upon of the little one's head is the fuzzy  
criminal, Ryo-ohki. With a blue pillow comforting Ryoko's head, the  
former uchu kaizoku dozed on the suitcases in the van's rear luggage  
compartment, simply dressed in her blue/gold stripped dress with a pale  
green coat. But as blond bombshell became accustomed to her  
surroundings, the remembrance the crash had jolted to the surface  
started to play again. Again the dark lady was surrounded by  
nothingness she couldn't touch, taste, see or feel.  
  
'Himawari (Sunflower), can you hear me,' a soundless voice she  
recognized as her grandfather's using her nickname.  
  
'Hai, ojiisama,' her thoughts replied. 'What is wrong with me, why I  
can't see you?'  
  
'You're in a life support bed located in the GP Hospital, at the main  
space station,' sympathy echoed in his words. 'We're using a telepathy  
transmitter/receiver to communicate with you.'  
  
'Is Kiyone all right?' Mihoshi asked. When silence only reached her,  
the young lady's voice gained a hysterical tone as she repeated 'IS  
KI . . .'  
  
'Keibu Saisho Kaikyu (Detective First Class) Makibi Kiyone is sleeping  
forever,' her grandfather's tone hard but caring. 'I feel your loss,  
mago (grandchild).' After a few minutes pass her grandfather continued,  
'Your body from the neck down was damaged beyond repair, it was a  
miracle you were still alive when your backup found you.'  
  
'Did the criminals escape?' a hard tone came out of the speaker.  
  
'Hai, they used the explosion to cover their theft and exit,' answered  
the blond man. 'We can offer you three . . .'  
  
'What happened to the CHILDREN?' angry words interrupted him.   
  
'The explosion killed them,' his words barely a whisper.  
  
Time passed before her grandfather could gain control over his emotions  
again, 'the three options we can offer you are: to let nature follow  
its course, transplant your brain into a clone or use a top  
secret . . .'  
  
'I want the GPCB,' hard determination plainly heard in Mihoshi words.  
  
'How do you know about the GPCB?' unfamiliar voice asked.  
  
'Tekkoko was my friend,' Mihoshi evenly replied.  
  
'Besides curiosity wears a police officer's uniform,' added the GP  
Marshall.  
  
'Oi . . .' replied the other voice.  
  
'Mihoshi, are you sure of this decision?' concern in her grandfather's  
words.  
  
'Hai, death is not an option and a cloned body would take sixteen  
months to grow with a 23 percent possibility of rejection by my brain,'  
strength in Mihoshi's words. 'The GPCB is fully compatible.'  
  
'But there are risks involved, the learning curve to use the GPCB is  
high and the possibility of psychological change is still there,'  
informed the other voice.  
  
'I'm a Galaxy Police officer, I hold the sword of justice in my right  
hand, the scale of truth in the left and danger is my business,' her  
words ring from the speaker.  
  
'Then rest, Himawari . . .'  
  
"Putting your heart into something, Kuramitsu-sama?" Nobuyuki's words  
yank her mind out of the past.  
  
"Ara . . . just touching a few memories," her bright blue eyes sparkle  
in the morning light. "But please call me Mihoshi, we don't need to be  
so formal since you were so kind to me."  
  
"It's easy to be nice to such a pretty person like you," countered the  
man in the driver's seat.  
  
Mihoshi stated between giggles, "You're . . . such . . . a flirt."  
  
"One of my many talents," A grin appeared on the older man's tan face  
as he changed the topic, "I must say, you handle our language quit  
well, Mihoshi-san."  
  
"Well, Juraigo is the commerce/diplomatic language of the Ginga Yunion  
(Galactic Union). So I'm very lucky your language is so similar to it,"  
a light to the serious lady's voice. "But even if it wasn't, I would  
master the words. Because of my work as a Galaxy Police officer, I've  
learned Hazardgo, Lumgo, Otakugo, Zeongo, Oriongo . . . "  
  
As Mihoshi rattled off the languages she knew to the increasing  
astounded Nobuyuki, Tenchi head swam with questions over the events of  
the past twenty-four hours but each one of them pointed at the same  
source, Ryoko. 'Why did Ryoko bring Ayeka-san out? Ayeka-san would have  
waited and Sasami-chan's prodding wouldn't make any difference,'  
soundless words bounced in his head. 'But Ryoko brought her out, kidded  
her about trying to seduce me at the storage shed and even goaded her  
into entering the pool with me. Even through Ryoko pulled her towel  
away I wonder what would've happened if Ayeka hadn't overreacted and I  
hadn't fainted. What happened afterward was just as much Ayeka's fault  
as Ryoko's with things getting out of control. Yet I still wonder over  
Ryoko's intentions. Was she just playing with our feelings or was she  
testing me, testing Ayeka or testing both of us?'  
  
As the youth tried to answer his own questions the lady with purple  
bangs was struggling with her own puzzlement. 'Why can't I keep my  
thoughts away from Tenchi-sama? I love my itoshii oniisama yet each  
time my mind wandered I would find my eyes would drift to Tenchi-sama,  
to his kind brown eyes, to his shy smile, to his strong bo . . . I'm  
doing it again!' Ayeka snapped her head in the other direction and  
locked her ruby eyes on the passing landscape. 'And I let my blood boil  
because of that Ryoko-onna . . . yet why did she do it? Was the  
bakemono making fun of me or was it something else? She already knew my  
attraction to Tenchi-sama so the only thing her actions did was  
revealed my interest in him to him.' The adult princess let out a sigh  
and continued, 'I've got to get hold of myself and continue my search  
for Yosho. Once I find my inazuke this will all be resolved. I'll have  
my otto (husband), we can go back to Jurai and Tenchi-sama can come  
with us, to gain his birthright.'  
  
Sasami's head swiveled from one side to the other as her little ears  
picked up sighs from Ayeka and groans from Tenchi. Constantly her large  
eyes would catch her sister staring at their cousin with more than  
friendship in her ruby eyes. She knew her sister was being naughty but  
when she asked Tsunami about it, the goddess just smiled and told the  
little princess she would understand when she was older. Just by that  
clue alone Sasami deduced it had something to do with sex but what  
exactly it was only left her pouting. 'Even Tsunami-megami treats me  
like a kochan,' the little one's thoughts growled which brought a  
tinkle of laughter from the heavenly moth that danced around the light  
of her spirit. Stopped cold by Tsunami's vague answer, Sasami changed  
the conversation to her dream and the ship in the sky. 'Your dream and  
the ship are one and will come to pass,' Sasami remembered the  
blue-haired goddess' silent words. 'But in what form I cannot tell.  
Like you, I can see only one past but a multitude of futures. I just  
hope that your neechans, your niichans and we can give the best future  
to all.'  
  
As Sasami wondered over Tsunami's second answer, she saw Tenchi's body  
stiffened. The little one looked up and grinned at the cause of the  
young man's reaction, in her sleep Ryoko had intertwined the youth's  
little ponytail in her right hand. Her quick glance at Ayeka discovered  
her sister's eyes glued to the passing scenery. So the freckle-faced  
girl held her right trigger finger to one corner of her lips and drew  
it across to the other corner. Tenchi's let his body relax, gave Sasami  
a conspirator's smile and returned to his own musings. Sasami could  
feel her heart's lightness when she saw the unconscious smile on  
Ryoko's lips and the way Tenchi seemed to accept the cyan-haired lady's  
physicality. Sasami was proud Tsunami had asked her opinion about  
Yosho's prayers on behalf of Ryoko and happy Tsunami had accepted  
Sasami's advice to help Ryoko. But the very action of Tsunami  
soliciting for her advice left the little one confused. 'Why would  
Tsunami-megami need to ask for my advice, Am I not one of her  
creations, just as Jurai is, just as the Trees are?' Sasami's  
unanswered questions weigh down her heart. 'Wouldn't she already know  
my words, my ki? It's not like I'm the real Sasami.'  
  
"Miya?" Ryo-ohki's one word of concern touched Sasami ears as the fuzzy  
cabbit's right paw touched the little princess' nose, allowing her to  
look directly into the left pink orb. The sight of the upside-down  
face brought uncontrollable giggles from the child's body, which caused  
Ryo-ohki to lose his footing. "Miya!" escaped from the gray-furred  
animal but the fall was short because Sasami's pink hands caught her.  
The blue-haired child raised the floppy-eared being to eye level,  
giving Ryo-ohki a chance to lick the princess' upturned nose, her  
sandpaper tongue produced another cascade of mirth from the little  
noble. After Sasami gave Ryo-ohki a reassuring pat, she placed Ryoko's  
friend back on her blue head.  
  
Ryo-ohki settled back down on Sasami's head but she turned her  
attention on her companion of five thousand years, Ryoko. Within her  
OS, the cabbit contained the memory of her previous incarnation and for  
the last two weeks she had been comparing Ryoko behavior before her  
imprisonment and now. Gone was the killing machine, gone was the war  
lover and gone was the akurei of destruction. A being full of  
conflicting emotions replaced the one she helped destroy twenty-eight  
planets and sixty-eight colonies. The battleship saw a kindness,  
tenderness, in Ryoko's actions that her companion tried to hide with  
the old pride, the old devilishness. The first tip off of this new  
nature was Ryoko's mental request to the just hatched Ryo-ohki to help  
Ayeka. Ryoko flooded her psychic link to Ryo-ohki with images of the  
week before the white-socked animal's rebirth, especially the  
purple-haired woman's attempt at taking God's breath from herself. It  
took some work to drive the clouds away from the older princess' spirit  
but it was worth it, for it revealed a sun just waiting for the dawn.  
Then Ryoko asked Ryo-ohki to stay with Sasami, to protect the  
fleet-footed child. At first the cabbit was confused by the little  
one's twin nature but quickly concluded both is Sasami and the things  
she did with carrots made the job a thousand delights.  
  
" . . . then there was the little known language of English which has  
become the rage in the Galactic Union since Hyperspace Entertainment  
and the Jurain Aza (Black Eye) Productions released Monty Python's  
Flying Circus and Dark Shadows to GC2 and JC11. Our execs at  
Headquarters even changed our name from Ginga Keisatsu to Galaxy  
Police. Now our logo is a GP instead of GE," concluded Mihoshi.  
  
"Well, you'll find most people here know at least a few English words  
and English music is very popular," Nobuyuki finally got a few words  
in.  
  
"Goody!" the happy blond squealed in English then switched back to  
Juraigo. "It will give me a chance to swallow the tune of the words."  
  
When Nobuyuki stopped the van at a crossroad, a light green truck moved  
across from the other direction and the older man waved with his left  
hand at the other driver who responded by raising his left fingers from  
the steering wheel. Ayeka saw the silent exchange and asked, "Someone  
you know, Nobuyuki-san?"  
  
"You remember, Ayeka-sama," flashed a smile over his shoulder at her.  
"Kawatta-san."  
  
Ayeka flashed back to the last time Tenchi had last played the type and  
a small smile graced her plain lips as she said, "The man with the  
music." Then the smile changed to a curious look as purple-haired lady  
continued, "You and Katsuhito-sama mentioned he was something more.  
What did you mean?"  
  
"We're fairly sure he was a third party in the fight over a certain  
videotape and otousama believed he could be something more, since he  
has been in Nihon for twenty years yet still has the physique of a  
young man," answered the brown-eyed man as he moved the vehicle  
forward.  
  
"Ara, you mean he might not be an Earthling?" the ruby-eyed woman  
asked.  
  
"Don't know," responded the older man. "The two Amerikajin kaku  
(American detectives) said they would look into it but I haven't heard  
anything from them." Purposely left out by Nobuyuki was his certainty  
as to why Mulder and Scully hadn't been around since that faithful  
night, Mulder's secretive disposition and Scully's unwillingness to  
rush things between her and him.  
  
"Well, maybe if I asked them, they would tell me?" a touch of a fire in  
Ayeka's eyes at what she perceived as a snub by the two officers.  
  
"You don't need to go out of your way, Ayeka-sama," Nobuyuki hastily  
reassured. "I'm sure their new positions within the NZK are keeping  
them busy."  
  
"It's no trouble at all, Nobuyuki-san," Ayeka's voice full of imperial  
tone. "Besides I was going to ask a favor from you and this will give  
me a chance to repay it."  
  
"Oi?" the brown-haired man puzzled.  
  
"Hai, Katsuhito-sama told me the complete records of Nihon's past are  
kept at the Tokyo University and in the National Archives. If I'm to  
continue my search for Yosho, those two places would be a good place to  
start."  
  
"Tokyo is a huge city and segare won't be able to guide you or protect  
you because he is going to school," Nobuyuki frowned.  
  
"I'll be fine," Ayeka smiled at the tanned man's concern.  
"Katsuhito-sama furnished me with the addresses for both places and  
some funds to pay for my daily expenses."  
  
"Can I come, oneesama?" Sasami cut in.  
  
"Mo, Sasami. You would find my search through dusty records very  
boring," Ayeka's absoluteness produced a pout on her sister's face.  
This brought sympathetic words from her older sister, "I know this will  
be the first time we've been separated but it's for the best. Besides,  
Tenchi's ojiisama asked me if you might be interested in doing a few  
things with him and I said you might."  
  
Sasami face brightened at Ayeka words and asked, "Did he say what?"  
  
Ayeka leaned her head down to her sister's and replied, "I'll let you  
find out on your own, Ii ne (alright)?"  
  
"Ii ne, oneesama," Sasami not completely satisfied with Ayeka's  
decision.  
  
"Don't worry, Sasami-chan," chipped in Nobuyuki. "The whole family can  
go some other time."  
  
"Hai, it would be much more fun that way, Sasami-chan," Tenchi added  
with kindness in his eyes.  
  
"Oke," Sasami smiled at the young man.  
  
"Ayeka-sama, I'll drop you off at the train station tomorrow, when I go  
to work and Tenchi goes to school," Nobuyuki informed her.  
  
"Domo Arigato, Nobuyuki-san," Ayeka thanked him. The slim lady turned  
to smile at the rest when her eyes narrowed at the sight of Ryoko's  
hand intertwined with Tenchi's black ponytail. A dangerous look filled  
her face and she opened her mouth but at the last moment, she yanked  
her head forward, slammed down her anger and crushed her half-formed  
words. 'Mo! I must find my niisan, my itoshii. If Tenchi-sama can  
accept the bakemono's touch then why should I object to it.' Then her  
body relaxed as another thought filled Ayeka's mind, "Still, the onna  
is Sasami's friend and I can think of no one else able to protect her  
while both Tenchi-sama and I are gone. I don't know enough about this  
GP officer to trust her with Sasami's life.'  
  
Tenchi and Sasami missed Ayeka's reaction but two pairs of eyes, one  
blue and one brown, could see the fleeting look of respect on Ayeka's  
face from the rearview mirror.  
**********  
Eight-year-old Togashi Osamu stared down at the two objects just a few  
steps below him, a twisted wreck of metal, glass and rubber and the  
motionless body of torn cloth, flesh and blood. From the bus stop next  
to the road, he had seen the sport car fly off the sharp corner near  
his parent's farm. First checking both directions, the little  
black-haired boy ran across the street as his sharp ears could hear the  
impacts of metal against earth and rock. Quickly the child worked his  
way down to where he now stood. Although damaged, the slim boy saw how  
pretty the lady was and felt he had to help her. With that thought, he  
jumped down to land just inches from the wounded woman, went to one  
knee and pressed his left hand to her neck to check for a pulse, just  
like Blackjack had done in last night's episode. A sharp intake of air  
was the only response the brown-eyed child could manage before his  
spirit was gone in one swallow.  
  
"By the Three Whores! To lose that body, that machine and end up with  
this small fragile bag-of-bones were stupid!" cold anger dropped from  
the childlike voice. "Now, I've got to find some other means to reach  
my mission's target!" The boy in the dark blue school uniform climbed  
back to the roadway and walked in the direction the car was going while  
a childish voice muttered, "Got to find something to get rid of this  
taste. Children's souls are so sickly sweet."  
**********  
7:55 Office of Sato Hitoshi, NZK Headquarters, Tokyo  
The first thing Scully noticed was how the spotlessness of the office  
reflected Sato's own perfect bearing. Not a hair on his head was out of  
place, his brown suit perfectly pressed, the correct tie and bright  
white teeth. "A perfectionist," concluded the redhead as she glanced at  
her silent partner. "Mulder's going to like this."  
  
In very accented English, Sato told them, "We have received a request  
for assistance from the Kurashiki Police to investigate the death of a  
young man in a soapland hotel."  
  
"Why would this concern the NZK?" asked the suspicious Mulder.  
"Wouldn't it be a waste of your resources?"  
  
"Hyakutaku Shigeru was the only son of a rich industrialist, whose  
support is critical to the national government," Sato answered calmly.  
  
"Money talks," Sato inclined his head as his only response to Mulder's  
words.  
  
"I also know you've had some dealings with the Kurashiki Police and  
know the city," added the much older man.  
  
"True but why our department?" asked an inquisitive Scully. Sato looked  
at his private secretary who responded to his silent command by handing  
Scully a folder.  
  
"The manager of the pink hotel made a curious statement," his eyes  
showing no emotion. "He said a flaming demon woman was responsible for  
the fire that killed Shigeru-sama."  
  
Interest gleamed in Mulder's eyes while Scully's head jerked up in  
response to her boss' words. "Surely you don't believe him, sir?"  
questioned Scully.  
  
"No, I don't but it will take more than the time and skill of the local  
police to find the truth," answered Sato. "Especially when it involves  
the Yakuza."  
  
"Anything else you can add, sir?" asked a puzzled Mulder.  
  
"Nothing else, Mulder-san," replied the brown-eyed man.  
  
"Then we better get going," said Mulder as he and his partner stood up,  
gave a short bow which was returned by Sato and the secretary and left  
the room.  
  
"Scully, why is the Japanese Mafia involved?" asked a perplexed Mulder  
while the pair walked toward the elevator.  
  
"Mulder, a pink hotel is the Nihonjin version of a brothel," a  
professional's look on the redhead's face.  
  
"So these brothels are owned by organized crime," Mulder guessed, his  
left hand rubbed his chin.  
  
"Prostitution, loan-sharking, protection and drugs are run by criminal  
clans known as the Yakuza," coworkers' ears perk up as they hear Scully  
words as the two walked by. "All crime in Nihon is organized into clans  
but the Yakuza clans are the most powerful, with their influence  
stretching into legitimate businesses and right-wing political  
parties."  
  
"Why only those parties," Mulder frowned as his right hand hit the down  
button.  
  
"The Yakuza has adopted the mantel of Bushido, the code of the samurai,  
and see themselves as protectors of traditional Nihon culture," a  
warning look covered her face. "They see the westernization of their  
homeland as a cancer that can only be stopped by reviving Nihon's  
military past."  
  
"Their version of traditional values," Mulder commented, the elevator's  
door opened.  
  
"Being Americans, we might have some trouble with the Yakuza  
witnesses," Scully chewed on her lower lip while both entered the large  
box.  
  
"Well, maybe talking shop will loosen them up," a playful look on his  
face.  
  
"Talking shop?" she turned her head up to look at her partner.  
  
"I wonder how much they charge for a lap dance?" Mulder pretended to  
look at the elevator's ceiling for he could feel his annoyed partner's  
glare.  
**********  
Masaki Residence  
The morning air still had the crisp chill of November when the brown  
van pulled up to the house by the mirror lake. Nobuyuki saw Katsuhito  
passing under the red torii near the shrine's stone staircase and head  
toward them. Tenchi looked out the window and commented, "A woman is  
with jiichan."  
  
"Anyone we know?" Nobuyuki wondered if it was Ninjin-chan.  
  
"No one I know," replied the black-haired youth. Both Sasami and Ayeka  
look but Katsuhito's frame blocked their view of the other person.  
  
Even with the noise of the opening of car doors, it is only after  
Tenchi's ponytail slipped out of Ryoko's grasp, did the amber-eyed  
woman awoke from her pleasant sleep. Stretching her limbs and arching  
her back with a yawn, the uchu kaizoku faded from her seat and  
reappeared behind the others. Nobuyuki stood in front with Ayeka and  
Sasami just behind on his right and Mihoshi a few steps from his left  
and Tenchi brought up the rear along with Ryoko. No one could get a  
clear look at the lady because Katsuhito purposely blocked his or her  
view.  
  
"I had an unexpected guest drop in on me last night," amusement in his  
old eyes. "I believe she is a relative of ours, at least it's what she  
claimed to be." With those last words the priest made a right sidestep  
and revealed a woman in a light blue kimono with a pattern of orange,  
red and brown leaves drifting down its length and a red mon of the  
Kamiki clan on her left breast.  
  
Tenchi and Nobuyuki heard the sharp intake of air from all the women  
around them. Both could tell why the two princesses reacted like they  
did because even with the long blue hair, they could tell the  
stranger's face was the same as Ayeka's, but both wondered at the look  
of happiness on Mihoshi's face and the jaw-dropped shock on Ryoko's  
face.  
  
"It's my OBASAMA!" Sasami gave a joyful shout as her little feet  
brought the little one to the woman with arms outstretched.  
  
  
The ruby-eyed lady knelt down, embraced the little one and said in a  
sad voice, "Sasami-chan, it's been a long time since you've given your  
obasan a hug." These words made Sasami's hug fierce. A happy sound from  
the little princess' blue hair brought the lady's eyes up to meet a  
pair of yellow eyes within a little furry body with floppy ears. A  
little surprised, Seto asked, "What is this dobutsu (animal)?"  
  
"Oi . . ." Sasami was brought back down to earth by her grandmother's  
question, Sasami took a step back, picked the cabbit from her head,  
held it out to Seto and replied, "This is my friend, Ryo-ohki."  
  
"Miya!" Ryo-ohki joyfully responded as Seto took her from Sasami's and  
brought the cabbit close to her face, which allowed the white-socked  
being to rub against the lady's perfect chin.  
  
"Ara . . . she's so kawaii," responded Seto as she patted the cabbit's  
silky fur. A slight clearing of the throat made the tall lady aware of  
her surroundings again and she stood up to greet her other grandchild,  
who was just a few steps away.  
  
"Ohayo, obasama," Ayeka greeted Seto with a smile and a proper bow.  
  
With Ryo-ohki still in her left hand, unconsciously stroking the little  
creature's back with her right, Seto smiled, returned the bow and  
stated, "Ohayo, mago. I understand there are three new additions to our  
kazoku. I've met Masaki Katsuhito, could you introduce me to the  
younger members."  
  
"Hai," replied the purple-haired lady as she turned left and waved her  
left hand for Tenchi to come forward. A curious frown touched Ayeka's  
face as she saw the looks on Ryoko's and Mihoshi's faces. With the same  
hand, Ayeka guided Tenchi to her side, turned to face Seto and said in  
a proper tone, "Kamiki Seto Jurai, the only obasama I've ever had, this  
is Masaki Tenchi, a true descendant of my oniisama, Masaki Yosho  
Jurai."  
  
"Konnichiwa, Seto-san," Tenchi welcomed Seto but his eyes widen as the  
tall lady stepped up to him and held his smooth chin with her right  
hand.  
  
Seto turned the youth's head left, then right, then gave a oblique  
glance at Katsuhito before she looked at Ayeka and said, "He does  
resemble Yosho at this age. What do you think Ayeka-dono?"  
  
"Hai . . . he does . . . obasama," Ayeka's embarrassed words matched  
her crimson cheeks just as Seto believed they would.  
  
"Is there anything else confirming his heritage?" asked the noble lady.  
  
"Ten . . . Tenchiken accepted him," Ayeka regained her composure with  
her answer.  
  
  
"Then I'm assured by your sharp eyes and Tenchiken," Seto confirmed.  
"From the bottom of my kokoro, I welcome this lost lamb into the fold."  
Then the blue-haired woman looked over Tenchi's shoulder at the older  
man behind him and asked, "I'll bet you're his otousama."  
  
With a grin on his face, Nobuyuki took a step forward, bowed and  
replied, "Konnichiwa, Seto-san. By adoption, I'm Masaki Nobuyuki."  
  
"Then I welcome you into the Oken Kazoku Jurai (Royal Family of  
Jurai)," a sound of finality in Seto's voice.  
  
Seto turned her head even further to the right and beheld an ebony body  
barely held in restraint by its owner, the light of joy in her blue  
eyes. With a small smile on her lips, the ruby-eyed woman handed  
Ryo-ohki to Ayeka, then walked over to Mihoshi. At three feet in front  
of the officer, Seto stopped, gave a short bow and said, "Konnichiwa,  
Mihoshi-dono."  
  
The properness of Seto's act broke Mihoshi's ecstasy and allowed the  
blond to snap to attention, gave a sharp salute to the Jurain princess  
with her right hand and returned the greeting, "Keibu Saishono Kaikyu  
Kuramitsu Mihoshi of the Ginga Police here to offer salutations to  
Kubiha Seto, my ojiisama's closest friend."  
  
As Mihoshi right hand dropped down, Seto grasped it with both hands and  
asked with a cheerful tone, "How is the old nozarubo (a field-monkey  
priest), years have passed since I've last seen him?"  
  
With her face aglow with happiness, Mihoshi's other hand came up to  
join the others and replied, "He still talks about the most beautiful  
odoriko (danseuses) to ever escape his hands but not his heart."  
  
"If it wasn't for the fact I was already married, you would be my  
magomusume instead of my nazukrgo (godchild)," certainty in Seto's  
voice. "He cut such a dashing figure in his uniform and I see you've  
inherited his good looks just as I thought you would."  
  
"I understand you were the one who named me," Mihoshi's body seemed to  
float upon the ground.  
  
"Not really," modesty in Seto's voice as her head leaned forward.  
"Hoshi has been part of a Kuramitsu name in each generation. I just  
reminded them, especially after I saw the blaze of your white curls  
around your little ebony head."  
  
Mihoshi's head leaned forward, allowing both foreheads to touch, before  
she said, "Ojiisama still wished you hadn't left. He would like your  
visits to be more formal instead of the midnight sojourns you used."  
  
"It was an embarrassment for me to be caught by a rookie on his first  
case," Seto has a knowing grin on her face. "Add to this the scandal of  
a Jurain oujosama being bailed out by her own family and the GP being  
forced to drop all charges. Thus, my leaving was for the best."  
  
"I loved it when you visit me in my room and told me in hushed words  
about your latest caper," both saw the memory in each other's eyes.  
  
"Your okasan worried I was a bad influence on you," Seto's voice gained  
a touch of wonder. "Why did you become a GP officer?"  
  
"Because of a kodomo's dream," Mihoshi's sky blue eyes gave Seto a  
knowing look. "A dream of catching you, so my kazoku wouldn't have to  
keep your love in a closest."  
  
"You could've come to me, anytime," amusement returned to Seto's voice.  
"I'm a Jurain oujosama after all."  
  
"It's not the Jurain oujosama we know," countered the blond bombshell.  
  
During the exchange of words, an angry pout filled Sasami's face over  
the two women's slangy words while Ayeka's ruby eyes bulge at the hints  
in both women's words. Katsuhito placed a hand over his mouth and  
turned his head enough so the morning sun would reflect off his glasses  
so to cover the laughter in his old eyes. Tenchi's head turned to look  
at each person's face until he reached Ryoko, where he found the  
cyan-haired woman as white as chalk. With concern the young man asked,  
"Ryoko, what's wrong?"  
  
No answer came from Ryoko but Tenchi's question drew Seto's attention  
and she asked Mihoshi, "So Ryoko-san is your prisoner, ne?"  
  
"Mo, Seto-dono," replied Mihoshi as she turned to face Ryoko. "The  
Statue of Limitations on Ryoko's crimes has come. So she is no longer  
considered a Most Wanted Criminal."  
  
"Oi," commented Seto as she released the officer's gloved hands and  
walked over to Ryoko.  
  
With the Jurain princess in front of her, Ryoko dropped to one knee,  
bowed her head and said in a fatalistic tone, "Kubiha Seto, by  
attacking Jurai, by attacking your kazoku, I have broken the Kaizoku  
Hoten (Pirate Code). I offer myself up for your judgement."  
  
Twin grasps left the two princesses and the sound of tiny feet could be  
heard as a bolt of blue and pink passed by Seto to embrace Ryoko's  
bowed head and a tearful voice could be heard by all, "MO! OBASAMA!  
Ryoko-neechan is my FRIEND!"  
  
"Don't! Sasami-chan," countered Ryoko in a sorrowful voice as her head  
came up, her hands took hold of the little princess' waist and moved  
her to one side, her tiny trembling hands still reaching for her friend  
before they dropped to the child's side.  
  
None of this exchange went unnoticed by Seto. Like an outer skin  
dropped from her body, the blue-haired lady's legs move apart, her  
hands squared on her hips and in strong voice she asked, "Stand on your  
legs, Ryoko-kun! Face me for there are only equals in the Brotherhood."  
  
Ryoko floated up and stood on shaky legs. Silence surrounded the trio  
as Sasami looked in Seto hard eyes, knew what Ryoko had done but still  
pleaded for her friend's life with her silent tears. With a  
flourish, Seto reached within her kimono and brought out a twelve-inch  
flask made of green glass with a KS on it. Seto kept her eyes on Ryoko  
while she unscrewed the lid, took a big swallow of some clear liquid  
and offered the container to the Ryoko. No longer shaking and with a  
small smile to show she recognized the ritual Seto was invoking, Ryoko  
took the green object and took an equal draught while Seto asked, "Did  
you know I was a member of Jurai's Royal Family?"  
  
"Mo, I did not," answered Ryoko as she returned the flask to the tall  
lady.  
  
Seto took another mouthful and gave it back to the amber-eyed woman.  
Ryoko took another drink while the slightly flush-faced lady asked, "If  
you had known, would you have still attack?"  
  
"Hai, I was under the control of Kagato-san. When his hand held my  
strings, his will command my will," answered Ryoko as she handed back  
the item.  
  
Seto tilted her head to get another shot from the flask, gave it back  
to Ryoko so she could take another drink and then proclaimed with a  
Cheshire Cat smile, "Then it's by my judgement, Kagato is responsible  
for breaking the Kaizoku Hoten, not you, Ryoko-oneesan."  
  
Sasami gave a little whoop of joy as she embraced Ryoko's waist as the  
ample lady returned the green container while commenting, "Alderan  
Sunburst. The really good stuff."  
  
Seto tipped her head all the way back to get the last few drops, then  
brought her arm back and with her whole body, threw the flask over the  
lake. "The . . . very . . . best," added the very flush-faced Seto.  
  
"What is the meaning of this?" shock echoed in Ayeka's face and words  
as she came up to stand next to Seto. "What is all this talk of  
Brotherhood, equals and oneesan?"  
  
"She doesn't know?" Ryoko asked, her own cheeks gaining a reddish  
appearance.  
  
"She . . . went looking for . . . Yosho . . . dono before her . . .  
otousama . . . could initiate her . . . in the . . . Secrets of  
Jurai . . ." replied the glassy-eyed lady while her left-hand grab onto  
her younger self for support as the full effect of the Alderan Sunburst  
hit her system.  
  
A burst of laughter lifted out of Ryoko's chest while Ayeka hotly  
shouted, "What is it I don't know?"  
  
"That's right, Ayeka-oneesama was in her room when you talked about the  
Jurai and the Kaizoku's Guild," Sasami reminded Ryoko.  
  
"Will someone please tell me what these two are talking about?" an  
incensed Ayeka asked.  
  
"Ayeka-san, let me introduce you to Kubiha Seto, the greatest uchu  
kaizoku in the universe," answered Ryoko with a Cheshire Cat grin  
plastered on her face.  
  
"WHAT!" Ayeka eyes bulge from both the news and the fact Seto turned to  
face her, threw her arms over Ayeka's shoulders and let the rest of her  
body collapse into the younger princess' frame. Before anyone could  
move, the two women foundered to the ground in a mess of blue, purple,  
arms and legs.  
  
After a burst of laughter from Ryoko and giggles from Sasami, Ayeka  
shouted to everyone, "Would someone please get obasama OFF OF ME?"  
Tenchi moved forward to give aid while Mihoshi commented, "Ojiisama  
said Seto's only failing was she couldn't handle her drink."  
  
When Ryoko saw Tenchi moved to Ayeka's aid, she floated over and  
carefully lifted Seto off the flustered princess, this allowed Tenchi  
to take Ayeka hands and lifted her up. This simple interaction brought  
a frown to Katsuhito's face. Whenever Ayeka had an accident where  
Tenchi could give aid, Ryoko would beat the youth to the princess and  
help Ayeka, much to the purple-haired lady's distaste. But now Ryoko  
purposely picked up Seto so Tenchi could help Katsuhito's sister. 'Why  
the change in Ryoko's pattern?' the old priest thought to himself. 'I  
better ask Nobuyuki about what happened at the onsen.'  
  
"I better get choshoku ready," called out Sasami as she ran ahead of  
them, her heart as light as her small feet and bouncy blue ponytails.  
As the group moved forward, Tenchi walked next to Ayeka, a floating  
Ryoko cradled the unconscious Seto with Mihoshi on her left and  
Nobuyuki on her right, Katsuhito brought up the rear.  
  
"Ryoko-san, what exactly is Alderan Sunburst?" Tenchi's father asked.  
  
"It's a key export of the tiny star kingdom of Alderan," Mihoshi  
answered for Ryoko. "Your average drinker will have a shot or two of  
Sunburst before moving to something less potent. I'm surprised it took  
three minutes for her to pass out from downing a half-a-pint."  
  
"I'm not," countered Ryoko. "She was giving me a chance to live if I  
answered any of her questions with a lie."  
  
"You mean she could've effortlessly killed you?" Nobuyuki voiced his  
surprise.  
  
"When Kubiha Seto took her seat on the inner council of the Kaizoku  
Guild, she ruthlessly eliminated those who tried to challenge the  
direction she wanted to take the guild in," Ryoko answered with some of  
the old pride in her voice. "She also handed out punishment for those  
who went out of their way to butcher helpless people."  
  
"Hai, Seto-dono helped obasama and me several times to capture such  
slaughterers," Mihoshi looked down with affection at the blue-haired  
lady.  
  
"Not someone you want to get on the wrong side of, na?" Nobuyuki  
commented.  
  
"She doesn't hold that title because she's some Jurain princess,"  
Ryoko confirmed.  
  
"I wonder how she is after a hangover?" Nobuyuki wondered.  
  
"Seto-dono will sleep for five hours, then you better have something  
ready for her," Mihoshi answered with an amusing tone.  
  
"Maybe that American cure will help her," Katsuhito suggested to them.  
  
"Gu idea, otousama," Nobuyuki answered back. "Sasami-chan can fix it  
for her."  
**********  
Onsen, Bisei  
MacClean closed the door to his light green truck, put the key in the  
ignition and started up the engine. As the vehicle moved down the dirt  
road to the main street, his ears still ring with the anger of the old  
woman over the condition the Masaki family and their guests had left  
her onsen in. When he had pulled in, the blond-haired man was surprised  
by the damage done to the place and his original conclusion was the UFO  
did the demolition. At first the old woman wouldn't answer his question  
but when MacClean mentioned he was an acquaintance of Nobuyuki, she  
unloaded her outrage onto him. To get away from her tongue, the  
gray-eyed man quickly gave her the phone number to the Masaki Shrine  
and told her to call Masaki Katsuhito, the head of the family. Looking  
back through the left rearview mirror, MacClean couldn't help to think  
about how the ruined building and grounds stood in contrast to the  
fields of autumn flowers and the cold mountain air. 'Well, I wonder  
what the old priest will tell her and who was the blond she kept on  
mentioning? Was it the same one I saw seated next to Nobuyuki?'  
MacClean thought.  
  
The truck was five minutes down the road to Kurashiki when MacClean  
sighted an unmoving motorcycle on the road's far shoulder, with a man  
crouched down on the left side of it and a young girl in the  
motorcycle's sidecar, at least that what the passenger's clothing  
suggested to the older man. "I'll be late to the station if I stop and  
help them," the blond man reluctantly voiced. "Let me call Triple A,  
they can help these two."  
  
As MacClean reached for his cellphone, the tinkle of metal caught his  
attention and he thinks, 'That sounded like wind chimes but where did  
it come from?' Just then his gray eyes touched upon his Timex and the  
numbers on it told the American he had ninety-four minutes before he  
would have to be at the radio station. His own indecision melted away  
as he saw the radiate smile directed at him by the young girl as she  
waved her right hand at him. 'Well, I haven't done my good deed for the  
day yet,' he concluded.  
  
As MacClean pulled over the road, he saw the girl's left hand touched  
the man's bowed head and he heard her shout, "See, Keiichi-chan! Your  
good luck star brought a knight errant to help us!"  
  
MacClean brought the truck to a halt next to them and asked politely,  
"Konnichiwa, can I be of some service?"  
  
"Hai, my BMW just conked out and I can't figure out why?" McClean heard  
a young man's voice come from the man as he stood up and turned to face  
the American. Short, even by Nihonjin standards, the youth continued,  
"I hate to impose upon your time but could you please give us a lift to  
our destination?"  
  
"Where would that be?" a little edge entered MacClean's voice.  
  
"We are going to an onsen just up the road from here," answered the  
teenager as he popped the chinstrap and removed his white motorcycle  
helmet.  
  
The answer produced a toothy smile from the American as he open the  
truck's door, got out and stated, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you but the  
onsen is closed for major repairs."  
  
"But we made reservations just four days ago?" the youth's slim frame  
sagged as the turned to face the girl, who took off her helmet. It was  
the first time MacClean got a good look at her face and he saw  
perfection in the expressive gray eyes and the dishwater blond halo  
surrounding her Scandinavian features.  
  
"Ara . . . an accident happened just yesterday morning, so no one could  
be warned about it," MacClean added after he had pulled his eyes back  
into his head.  
  
"You work at the onsen?" asked the young man in the black sweater.  
  
"Mo, I just came from there," the man in dark green pants replied as he  
walked by the shorter man to examine the bike and its lovely cargo,  
whose light smile on perfect lips seemed to suggest to MacClean she  
could detect his honest feelings. He rapped the gas tank with his right  
hand, the sound it produced brought a small smile to his face and he  
called over his shoulder, "I think I've found your problem, eh . . . "  
  
"Oi . . . we haven't introduced ourselves," an embarrassed tone to the  
young lady's honey sweet voice. "He is Morisato Keiichi and I'm  
Belldandy."  
  
Both gave him a short bow, which MacClean returned and the American  
said, "I'm Anthony MacClean and your problem is an empty fuel tank."  
  
"Kya! Ome honto ni ei eichi boku o da na! (Oh! What a ying yang I truly  
am!)," Keiichi as his right fist thumped his head.  
  
"It's oke, Keiichi-chan," her sparkling smile seemed to ease her  
boyfriend's frustration. "As long as we're together, it's all I want."  
  
Old memories touched the edge of MacClean's mind but he pushed them  
away and said to the couple, "We can put your bike into the back of my  
truck and I'll take you to the closest gas station?"  
  
"Hai," replied both of them to the suggestion, although MacClean  
noticed a shadow seemed to have passed over the girl's sunshine face,  
like she had felt the stab of pain in his thoughts.  
  
Belldandy got out of the sidecar and MacClean was hit by how graceful  
she was in the light blue and green, full-length dress with billowing  
white sleeves. The blond-haired man shook his head and turned his  
attention back to helping the young man roll the motorcycle to the back  
of his truck. He lowered the tailgate, took out a metal rail and locked  
it into place so they could roll the bike up into the back. Once done,  
MacClean took out some rope and securely tied the bike down so it  
wouldn't be damaged during transport. During the whole operation, the  
shorthaired American noticed how Belldandy always stood as close as  
possible to Keiichi.  
  
MacClean got in the driver while Keiichi helped Belldandy into the  
passengers' side and closed the door after he got in. As the older man  
started the truck, he could smell the sweet odor of fresh cut flowers  
and from the corner of his right eye he could see the two secretly held  
her right hand and his left hand. To distract himself from the  
bittersweet memories it brought him, MacClean asked, "So where are you  
from?"  
  
"We're from Nekomi," answered the young lady with a voice like spring's  
sparrows.  
  
"A college town," remembered the man at the wheel.  
  
"Hai, we're both students at Nekomi Institute of Technology," informed  
Keiichi as he leaned forward a little to make eye contact with  
MacClean. "I'm a second year student and Bell-chan is an exchange  
student from Sweden."  
  
"Ara, that explains the blue marks on her face," a cheerful tone in  
MacClean's voice.  
  
"Oi . . . " Keiichi tried to suppress to fear in his voice while  
curiosity entered Belldandy's face.  
  
"Hai, those marks mean Belldandy-sama follows the old ways," informed  
the driver.  
  
"The old ways?" the young man voiced his confusion.  
  
"In the land of the Norse, the practitioners of the land's ancient  
religion wear those marks upon their faces," MacClean gained some  
comfort from showing his knowledge. "It's a way to show their devotion  
to the old ways."  
  
"You are very perceptive, MacClean-sama," her praise brought pleasure  
to his soul while her left hand touched the marks. "The emblems allow  
us contact with the old powers and to show they haven't been forgotten  
by the new ways."  
  
"Gu to hear," but his tone changed from happy to concern. "Although it  
must have been scary for you when the ritual was done. You were  
probably very young then."  
  
"Hai, MacClean-sama," innocence in Belldandy's words. "Like a new born  
Kami."  
  
"Please, call me Anthony. Oke you two?" both gave him a reassuring nod,  
then he continued, "If I remember my pagan rituals, a cut is made on  
the forehead and two smaller ones on each cheek. Then a blue dye is  
rubbed into the fresh wounds, so when they heal they produce the marks.  
Am I correct?"  
  
"Hai, you're correct, Anthony-san," admiration in the young lady's eyes  
and words. "I find it refreshing someone your age would know such  
things."  
  
"I know a hodgepodge of things due to the fact I'm a voracious reader  
of nonfiction, especially history and religion," MacClean acknowledged.  
"It's just I don't get much chance to show it."  
  
"I think it's wonderful," genuine tone in Belldandy's voice. "So few  
remember the earth they sprang from."  
  
"Arigato," the older man returned the praise. "But enough of me. What  
are you two studying at Nekomi Tech?"  
  
"I'm majoring in Mechanical Engineering while Bell-chan is working on  
her General Ed.," MacClean heard relief in Keiichi's reply.  
  
"Oi . . . then I can assume you belong to the auto club," a half-formed  
idea bubbled up to the surface of MacClean's mind.  
  
"Hai, we're both members of the NIT Motor Club," a mix of apprehension  
and pride in the short man's brown eyes. "I built the motorcycle and  
sidecar to show my mechanical skill."  
  
"I'm the club's team girl," Belldandy joyfully added.  
  
"So this radiant Polaris is the club's good luck," the effortless way  
the older man spoke triggered a jealous twinge in Keiichi's spirit but  
a reassuring squeeze from gray-eyed beauty's left hand banished the  
feeling.  
  
"I try to help in my own way," said the longhaired girl, MacClean saw  
the knowing look she gave her beau.  
  
MacClean's eyes pick up on the love the two young bodies gave to each  
other, and then he saw the service station appear around the next bend.  
"You still interested in going to a hot spring?" he asked them.  
  
"Hai," both happily replied.  
  
"Gu. After we fill your gas tank, I'll drop you off at a natural hot  
spring I found a couple of weeks ago," the pair nodded in agreement to  
his plan. It took only five minutes for the service station attendants  
to fill the truck's gas tank as well as the motorcycle's. They also  
checked the oil, the air filter and cleaned the windshield. Keiichi  
reached for his wallet but MacClean waved his right palm at the young  
man and paid for everything. Once the vehicle is back on the road, the  
American asked, "I was wondering if your fellow members might be  
willing to do a special project for me?"  
  
"Eh . . . I don't know," hesitation in the black-haired youth's reply.  
  
"What if I say, money is no limitation," a sly look on MacClean's  
smooth face.  
  
"Oi, in that case my senpai would gladly do it," certainty in Keiichi's  
tone.  
  
"A greedy lot?" more a statement than a question from the driver.  
  
"I don't know how many times our club's buchou (leader) and his joshu  
(assistant) has got us involved in their money making schemes," the  
youth in the dark brown baggy pants sighed.  
  
"Let me give you an outline of what I would like your club to build for  
me," the shorthaired man informed his passengers. Fifteen minutes  
later, in a little rocky valley with warm vapors revealed in the cool  
morning air, MacClean and Keiichi rolled the motorcycle off the back of  
the truck.  
  
"Domo arigato for your help, Anthony-san," enthusiasm in the young  
man's voice as the two followed the American to the diver's door. "I'm  
very sure my senpai will accept your offer but I like it because it's  
going to be fun building it."  
  
MacClean turned around to face them as his left hand clutched the door  
handle and he said to Keiichi, "Gu, one should always have feelings for  
their work."  
  
Belldandy's took a small step forward and commented, "I've noticed your  
ears are pierced."  
  
Her words produced a lopsided smile on the face of the man with the  
bright yellow shirt and he replied, "It's a reminder of my wilder  
days."  
  
The girl with sunshine in her smile reached into her shirt pocket and  
withdrew a small gold earring with tiny crosses of various types  
hanging from it. She held it out to him and simply said, "For helping  
us."  
  
MacClean returned the smile, took the sparkling item from her soft  
hands and attached it to his right ear. "How does it look?" he asked.  
  
"It gives you a roguish look," answered a smiling Keiichi while  
Belldandy gave a happy nod.  
  
"Eh . . . I got to get going," MacClean told them as he opened the door  
and got behind the wheel. "Enjoy yourselves, you two love birds  
  
"It's that obvious?" surprise in Keiichi's tone while Belldandy's gray  
eyes brightened.  
  
"I feel your young love in every look and in every touch you two  
share," MacClean answered. "Sayonara for now, Keiichi-san,  
Belldandy-san."  
  
"Sayonara, Anthony-san," MacClean could hear the couple's happy words  
over the engine's noise.  
  
In a pine tree above the truck, a pair of amber eyes watched the events  
play out below her. Ryoko came up here to take a bath in the pool's  
soothing water and to go over her own mixed thoughts. Now with the  
young couple here, the cyan-haired woman didn't want to interfere with  
their use of the hot spring for even from her perch her sharp vision  
could see them holding hands. The ample lady looked over her shoulder  
at the morning sun glittering off a distant lake but shook her head,  
'Mo, this is for my Tenchi. Besides, I can make it through one day with  
them together.' But because their farewells identified the driver,  
another idea entered Ryoko's mind.  
  
As MacClean drove the truck back to the main road, he again heard the  
tinkle of wind chimes in the vehicle's cab. "I'll bet one of those  
Clamp girls put something behind the seat. They're such pranksters.  
Well, let see how late I'm going to be for work," he sighed as he  
looked at his Timex. Confusion filled his eyes and with his left hand  
he tapped the watch's crystal while his words continued, "Oh, great! My  
watch got busted helping them. I'm sure more than thirty minutes passed  
while I helped those two. I'd better put the pedal to the metal."  
  
As the two walked toward the bike, Belldandy looked over her shoulder  
just in time to see a floating figure appear over the truck and dropped  
into its rear. 'I didn't know Ryokoakurei had awakened,' puzzlement on  
her pink face. 'He must be her friend too, it would explain his unique  
aura.'  
**********  
Notes:  
Characters:  
Mihoshi: This is probably the hardest character to write for because  
her behavior follows a very complex psychological profile. The other  
main characters have understandable psychological profiles but  
Mihoshi's mix of childlike spirit and professional attitude is very  
hard to balance. It also doesn't help that her character was the only  
one not further developed in the Second OAV Season. Yet some facts have  
been made clear:  
1_She has an excellent record as a Galaxy Police officer. She  
successfully completed her cases but at a cost (property damage and  
misconduct reports). This seemed to get worse when she was demoted.  
2_She have highly developed skills. She can memorize every detail not  
only in her cases but also her daily life, can write very detailed  
reports and she knows a lot of things. But at the same time, her  
ability to use this information under stress is poor due to the  
unorganized nature of this data and she has become very depended on her  
instinct and luck to get through combat situations.  
3_Enough hints have shown up that Mihoshi is the favorite granddaughter  
of the Galaxy Police Marshall and every commander in the GP knows it.  
As such they're attempts by them to shield her from harm and to gain  
favor with the GP Marshall. Yet Mihoshi's total disregard to physical  
harm and to internal politics makes this task impossible.  
4_Originally I had Mihoshi addressing Kiyone as Kiyone-dono but a  
review of the subtitled Tenchi Universe showed me that she addressed  
Kiyone as Kiyone. This seemed strange to me since she used the  
honorifics for the other characters (Washu-dono, Sasami-chan,  
Ayeka-san, etc . . .). In the OAV and TU, the non-use of honorifics  
usually means a special relationship between those characters, Tenchi  
and Ryoko don't use them for each other and neither do Yosho, Ayeka and  
Azusa. As I have said before in my notes in Strange Days Book One, the  
non-use of honorifics between characters can show a deep, loving bond  
between them (personal love between Ryoko and Tenchi, family love from  
Yosho, Ayeka and Azusa). A careful examination of Mihoshi's feelings  
for Kiyone suggested a lesbian love on Mihoshi's part for her partner (especially the Time and Space episodes, which are based on the OVA  
radio episodes). Now the question is, did Kiyone have the same strong  
feelings for Mihoshi. In TU, Kiyone's wiliness to withstand her  
partner's disasters, her non-use of honorific for Mihoshi and the warm  
smile she would give her partner's sleeping form could mean such a  
relationship could've developed in the Tenchi OVA.  
There are many explanations for Mihoshi's behavior and I originally  
came up with one I thought was correct and original, but I found other  
fanfic writers had also come to the same conclusion (example: Lita  
Eagle's "Confess to You"), so I decided to try to develop another  
possible reason. I'm trying very hard to keep Mihoshi from turning into  
the stereotype creature we see in the Tenchi Universe Mihoshi.  
  
Seto: Most of the character for Seto is based on the True Tenchi Novels  
and on the behavior of her daughter, Misaki, and her nephew, Azusa (she  
raised Azusa after both of his parents were killed by space pirates).  
Washu's statement toward the end of the "Here Comes Jurai" episode  
suggested she knew someone like Misaki and I took this to mean she knew  
Seto. She is probably the oldest member of the Jurai Royal Family (at  
five thousand years old) thus the head of the family (but not the  
government) with a lot of influence over the family decision making  
process (including the decision for the marriage between Yosho and  
Ayeka. It was meant to prevent a romantic tangle between Yosho and  
Misaki, yet at the same time she helped instigate a love affair between  
Yosho and Magma Airi). The True Tenchi Novels also stated she had her  
own intelligence network separate from the one under Funaho's control.  
I took this to mean she controlled the Pirate Guild, thus making her a  
space pirate.  
  
Belldandy: The introduction of Belldandy and Keiichi is meant as a slow  
incorporation of OMG into the series, since I'll be doing an OMG-Tenchi  
OVA story later on in "Strange Days".  
While Belldandy's physical color is based on the anime, her behavior is  
based on the manga (just before the Terrible Master Urd cycle). The  
anime was based on OMG 'lost episodes' (now being published in Dark  
Horse's "Super Manga Blast") with a few changes her and there by  
screenplay writer, Naoko Hasegawa (the writer for the first Tenchi OVA  
Season). Donald Dortmund and I got into a discussion over the  
differences between Belldandy anime and Belldandy manga. Unlike the  
anime version, Belldandy is more aggressive in helping Keiichi and  
shows her affection for him more openly, although Donald believed this  
is because of Keiichi's wish but that might not be completely true.  
Early on Belldandy stated to Keiichi's sister, Megumi, "I am here on  
this Earth for Keiichi alone. I will never leave his side, 'til death  
do us part." At NIT, everyone became concern when they see Keiichi  
without Belldandy at his side. After a bug temporary stopped the Force  
System from enforcing the wish, Belldandy is concern Keiichi won't want  
her at his side but Keiichi made it clear to her he wanted Belldandy  
always at his side. After the battle with the Fenius Wolf at the end of  
OMG:TMU, the wish was erased by the crash of the Yggdrasil system.  
Keiichi asked Belldandy if she was going to leave him since the wish no  
longer bonded her to him. She replied, "No, because I love you."  
  
Keiichi: As with Belldandy, Keiichi is based on the manga. In the  
manga, Keiichi's main concern is to show Belldandy his love for her  
isn't because of the wish and to protect her secret (this became even  
harder once Urd and Skuld show up).  
  



	2. Strange Days, Part Two: Fire and Rain

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo 

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo!/No Need For Tenchi is a product of

Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this

fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans

of this wonderful series.

Disclaimer: The X-Files is the product of Chris Carter and 20th

Century Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this

fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans

of this excellent series.

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess is the product of Kosuke Fujishima and

Where's Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi. Both are

mentioned here because characters from both series appear in Book

Two.

Disclaimer: All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of

fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure

coincidence.

Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear

in this series.

Forward: This is a squeal to Strange Days Book One: With a Little

Help From Our Friends. As always I would appreciate any comments

about this work. Currently I have no web site but I have two E-mail

addresses:

V_Bashaw@hotmail.com

Horosha@RC_Books.zzn.com

I can also be reached by leaving messages on the Ayeka Fan Club

message board.

This is part of my crossover series where I'm blending the OAV Tenchi

universe of romance/humor/action with other series. Currently I'm

mixing it with the X-Files universe of alien-government conspiracies

and weird events. The events in Strange Days Book Two take place just

after episode four ("Mihoshi Falls to the Land of Stars") and the

first season of the X-Flies (both take place in 1992). If anyone

wants to use any of the characters I have created here, please

contact me first (especially about Anthony MacClean). I don't know

the organizational structure of law enforcement in Nihon and have

assumed it is similar to ours. If you know something that would

improve my knowledge about this subject, please contact me. If you

have questions about the story or how I portrayed the characters

please read the notes at the end of the book or contact me at my

e-mail addresses. I have a separate glossary of Nihongo words, idioms

and titles for this series. A copy can be found with Strange Days at

the Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction Archive or you can ask me for a copy.

My prereaders for Book Two are Kuuta Kutani, Donald Dortmund, Fuzzy

Bunny and Top_Quark. Also Luriko-Ysabeth helped me on usage of

Nihongo in fanfiction while Beaglesan, John Robertson and Gregory

Himes have given some good feedback

Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi

Muyo into my life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajshima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko,

and Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Carter for his great series.

Warning: Just like the two works it is based on, this series contains

adult language and situations, some of them ecchi, so any minor

should get parents' permission before reading it.

**********

Tenchi Muyo/X-Files Crossover

Series Title: "Strange Days"

Book Two: "Fire and Rain"

A Fan-fiction by Horosha

Copyright: February 25, 2001

Chapter Two: The Sound of Silence

Galaxy Police Hospital

Darkness' wing lifted from Mihoshi's mind as her foggy consciousness

allowed her to sense her surroundings, then an unrecognized voice

touched her ears, "Sir, she's awake."

The sound of slow steps came close to her and her grandfather's

fearful voice asked, "Himawari, can you hear me?"

"I'm so sleepy, jiichan," Mihoshi's dark lips barely part. "Can't I

stay in bed a little longer?"

A touch of joy entered the Marshall's voice, "Na Sleepyhead, its time

to open those bright blue eyes."

Mihoshi's eyelids flutter for a couple of seconds before she can get

them open. Mihoshi noted the black specks floating in her version,

then watched them shatter. "OYA, MAA (Oh my)!" a piecing shout came

out of her mouth, with the last note accompanied by the sound of

breaking glass coming from the connecting bathroom.

She felt strong hands grab her shoulders and her eyes locked on her

grandfather's reassuring face as his commanding voice said, "Think,

Himawari. Remember our last conversation."

Comprehension filled her mind as she noted how different her voice

sounded, how her hearing could pick up the mumbled conversation about

the cracked bathroom mirror and the way her eyes tried to adjust to

her demands. "I'm in the GPCB," Mihoshi stated.

"Hai, Mihoshi-san," affirmed a doctor with Kuroda Yosuke on his

nametag. "And I must say, the responses of your voice, hearing and

visual components to your brain's impulses and their stimuli to your

brain are very impressive. None of the prototypes showed this kind of

early improvement."

"I saw black specks move across my eyes," Mihoshi's voice sounded

more like her own.

"Those are the nanobots, they are the only reason the GPCB can even

operate as an independent unit," pride in Kuroda's voice. "They are

self-generating micro-robots constantly repairing the GPCB, fine

tuning its functions to the brain's mental commands and converting

biological material into the necessary components to keep both your

brain and the GPCB operating."

"How many are in me?" Mihoshi's face reacted to her curiosity.

"We don't actually know," one of the assistants admitted. "The

nanobots will manufacture as many of themselves as is necessary to

keep the GPCB functioning at peak performance."

"Why don't you try to move your right arm, Mihoshi-san?" Kuroda

asked.

Mihoshi's sapphire eyes glanced down at her unmoving ebony arm and

she questioned, "Like this?" In seconds, Mihoshi moved it three

inches above the checkerboard blanket, then wiggled her long fingers

at them.

"Amazing . . . remarkably . . . beyond all estimations . . ." were

just a few words the assistants uttered about Mihoshi's simple act.

Suddenly, Mihoshi felt hunger pains push for her attention.

"Ojiisama, is it too late for choshoku, I'm very hungry?" she asked.

Her grandfather glanced at Kuroda, whose own frown matched the

Marshall's. Recognizing both men's expression, Mihoshi continued, "Is

there something special about me being hungry?"

"The two major flaws the GPCB has been the need to take in a higher

than normal amounts of nourishment and the necessity for naps,"

Kuroda answered. "The extra nourishment is for the replication of the

nanobots and the naps are to replace the need for long sleep

periods."

"Then the nanobots are bio-mechanical?" the Marshall's own curiosity

was perked.

"Alas no," replied the bald-headed, female technician. "For the past

twenty thousand years, the Ginga Yunion supported research into

nanobots as bio-mechanical entities but two setbacks have stopped

this endeavor cold. The first was the ouster of Doctor Clay from the

Oken Uchu Akademi (Royal Space Academy) and the second was the

disappearance of the super genius, Hakubi Washu."

"But both of those events happened a long time ago," Mihoshi's

grandfather countered.

"Such research is time consuming and expensive," the man with the

thick brow ridge answered. "Doctor Clay was on the threshold of a

breakthrough when his own personality flaws got him expelled. The

project passed to lesser competent people before Hakubi Washu showed

an interest in it. Her reports to the Ginga Yunion showed she had

made a major discovery when she, her assistant and her

fifteen-year-old daughter vanished five thousand years ago."

"Wouldn't you still have access to their research files and hardcopy

notes?" noted the Marshall.

"In a fit of anger, Doctor Clay destroyed all physical traces of his

experiment before leaving," disapproval strong in Kuroda's tone. "On

the other hand, Hakubi Washu was so secretive, she placed unbreakable

security codes to all entry points to her private lab and its

computers."

"So you ended at square one again," compression filled the Marshall's

blue eyes.

"Tadshii (Correct)," answered one of the Jurain doctors, "and we

would still be there if it wasn't for a bit of good luck."

"Oi . . .?" Mihoshi's listened carefully to the dialogue between her

grandfather and the others when she noticed the relief in that last

voice.

"Un (Yes)," confirmed Kuroda. "Seven hundred and ninety-five years

ago, an abbey on Kanemitsu received a cache of memory crystals from a

man described by the rector as very dark skin with flashing gray eyes

and blond hair. The crystals were of unknown origins but were

decipherable with the help of the Ginga Akademi's (Galaxy Academy's)

mainframes."

"Cool!" Mihoshi's use of English reflected her absolute absorption in

the story.

"It took centuries before we could fully understand the data

crystals' secrets," Kuroda's smiled at Mihoshi's response, "and one

of them was the design for the nanobots we used for the GPCB. They

are mechanical but have the memory capacity to act like biological

units and the ability to rearrange matter on the subatomic level."

"So they can convert matter into any form necessary to fulfill their

basic program?" the Marshall's questioned.

"Hai but they still have pluses and minuses," the man with the

elf-like ears answered. "As was mentioned before, unlike a biological

unit you don't need a long sleep time, but you do require short

sleeps so the nanobots can make major repairs and upgrades

unhindered."

"Sounds my mago is to live a lazy man's dream, to snack and snooze to

her heart's content," Mihoshi's grins at her grandfather's playful

words.

"Can you feel through your skin?" asked the green-haired Kuroda.

Mihoshi placed her right-hand first against her face, then moved her

left hand underneath the blankets to touch her left breast,

bellybutton and left thigh. "It felt tingling at first, like when

your arm falls asleep but it's already changing, feeling normal," but

the ebony woman's words stopped as her right hand brought strings of

blond hair before her vision. Her gaze locked on her grandfather's

own happy eyes as he brought a mirror out of his pocket and held it

before her, the reflection showed a face she has always had and life

in her sapphire eyes.

"We altered the GPCB outer features to match your former shell, to

help with your recovery and to make interaction with biological

entities easier for you," the white-eyed assistant answered the ebony

lady's unspoken question.

Excitement filled Mihoshi's face as her left hand moved to her

vagina, whose touch brought waves of strange sensations that quickly

transformed into pleasurable arousal, suddenly her fingers were

covered in moisture. "Oops," the English word escaped Mihoshi lips as

her wide eyes saw her scarlet embarrassment in the mirror. The ebony

woman glanced up at the others' attempts to hide their own reactions

before she asked in Juraigo, "Naze wa yo (Why)?"

"The mistake we made was to make the GPCB prototypes robotic," the

male albino tried to keep her voice neutral. "Without the sensations

produced by the biological body, the enclosed brain within the GPCB

will lose its ability to function in a humanoid society, the trapped

personality dissolving bit by bit into an android without care,

without sympathy and without a soul."

"But why this?" Mihoshi wondered as she held up her left hand, the

fingers covered in stickiness. The GP Marshal quickly gave her his

green silky handkerchief.

"Just like the cells in a biological body, nanobots have a short life

span," replied Kuroda. "Then they are recycled to form new skin,

hair, nails, perspiration and other bodily fluids for the GPCB, you

even have tears."

"Komatta na (Oh darn)! I was hoping I didn't have to use tampons ever

again," Mihoshi's pouted while Kuroda and the others tried to

suppress their laughter and blushes, her grandfather just smiled.

**********

Masaki Residence

Ayeka stood in the kitchen's entrance to the living room, she saw

Seto sleeping on the sofa while the GP officer knelt next to the

sleeping form. The big princess' ruby eyes watched Mihoshi take a

washcloth out of a small ceramic bowl of water, squeeze the excess

water out with her strong hands and return the damp item to her

godmother's forehead. By the mechanical way Mihoshi performed her

action and the glazed look in her eyes, the purple-haired lady could

tell the blond woman's spirit was somewhere else. 'Probably

remembering about the last time she saw obasama,' Ayeka guessed

before returning her attention to the three individuals in the

kitchen.

"So you take a raw egg, blend it with one cup of tomato juice, add

three teaspoons of kuzu sauce and a pinch of salt," Sasami carefully

said as she sautéed onion half-moons in a medium-sized skillet.

"Tadshii, Akaruime," satisfaction appeared on Katsuhito's tanned face

as he watched the child in the carrot apron gingerly add the onions

to a soup pot which contained the kombu and shiitake broth. "It

should help Seto-dono's hangover."

A feeling of yearning fluttered through Ayeka's soul every time she

heard Tenchi's grandfather use the nickname Yosho gave Sasami, an

echo of her brother's gentleness in his voice. 'I used to be angry at

oniisama for giving his love to another woman but now I just want to

find him, to show I still love him with all my ki and to show his

compassion is embodied by his seed.'

As Ryo-ohki noisily munched a carrot while on the kitchen's island,

Sasami sprinkled in the celery seed, added a few drops of shoyu sauce

into the broth while the little princess asked without looking up,

"Jiichan, Ayeka-oneesama told me you had something to ask me?"

"In three days is the Shichi-Go-San (Seven-Five-Three) Festival at

the Achi-jinja, in Kurashiki," a sliver of hope in the old priest's

words. "I was wondering if you would like to go?"

"What is Shichi-Go-San?" a cat's curiosity in Sasami's pink eyes.

"Boys at age five, along with girls at ages three or seven, are taken

to a Shinto Shrine where they are presented to the Kami and prayers

are made on behalf of the child, asking for the Kami's blessing,"

Katsuhito informed the little one. Sasami's face brightened at the

thought of meeting other children but then dimmed. Seeing her

reaction, the older man asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm eight years old," Sasami mumbled with head downcast.

Katsuhito placed a hand on her left shoulder and gently turned her to

face him, then brought his head down to her level and said,

"Eight-year-olds, who were sick or unable to go to a shrine, can

still go." When the gray-haired man saw the sunshine returned to

Sasami's features, he again asked, "So would you like to come?"

"Yapi! (Yeah!)" Sasami stuffed the word with all her joy as her

oil-covered hands locked behind Katsuhito's neck. "Ara . . . Gomen

nasai, jiichan," the pink wonder pulled back her hands as she

realized what the oil had done to his neck.

"That's oke, Akaruime," forgiveness in Katsuhito's voice as he took a

light brown kitchen towel and cleaned his neck.

A small smile sneaked onto Ayeka's face as her heart was lightened by

the scene in the kitchen but she startled when a low voice next to

her speaks, "Don't worry, Ayeka-san. We'll take care of Sasami-chan

while you're gone."

Ayeka turned her head to see Tenchi just behind her, a reassuring

smile on his face. "Hai," a soft tone matched the only word she could

muster as both continued to watch the lively conversation.

"This afternoon, after Tenchi's kendo practice, why don't you come up

to the shrine and we'll practice for the Shichi-Go-San," Katsuhito

told Sasami.

"Hai," happiness in Sasami's voice as she poured the onion soup into

a large blue bowl. With a light flourish, the child garnished the

soup's top with minced parsley and homemade croutons. While the old

priest took a pair of potholders to carry the hot bowl in, Sasami

turned to the others and said with a smile, "Gohan desu

(meal is ready)."

Both Tenchi and Ayeka moved forward to help Sasami bring in the rest

of the food while Ayeka quietly stepped over to the sofa. The slim

lady could tell the GP officer was still daydreaming, so she stood in

front of the kneeling form and brought her pink face within inches of

Mihoshi's ebony face, whispered, "Keibu Mihoshi."

Mihoshi's bowed head bounced into the right side of Ayeka's face,

sending the big princess stumbling away while the blond bombshell

looked around. When the ebony woman saw the glaring Ayeka rubbing her

bruised cheek, Mihoshi realized what happened and said, "Gomen nasai,

Ayeka-san."

Ayeka's hard eyes soften at the sincerity in Mihoshi's apology and

replied, "It's ii ne, Mihoshi-san."

"Are you oke, Ayeka-san?" the words turned Ayeka to face a concerned

Tenchi just two feet away from her, a small dish of pickled cabbage

leaves in his right hand.

"I'm . . . fine, Tenchi-sama," Ayeka stammered over his display of

worry and looked over the young man's shoulder, fearful the others

had heard her muddled response but found Katsuhito was busy placing

the soup on the low table while Sasami kept Ryo-ohki from raiding the

medium-sized dish of pickled carrot sticks.

At the last moment Nobuyuki came down the living room stairs, the

scent of fresh onion soup brought him out of his home office. When

his brown eyes saw the prone Jurain princess, Tenchi's father asked,

"Should we wake Seto-san?"

"Mo, it's better to let her sleep it off," Katsuhito replied but

continued the thought in his mind, 'It's dangerous to wake a drunk

Jurain oni.'

Katsuhito took his place at the head of the table while Ayeka knelt

on his right with Sasami next to her and Tenchi knelt on his

grandfather's left with Mihoshi beside him. It was only at this time

Sasami noticed someone was missing and asked, "Where's

Ryoko-neechan?"

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki told her. When only questioning looks came from

Sasami and the others, the cabbit got on her hind legs, took her

forepaws from a low position, brought them across her chest, pointed

up into the air and then again said, "Miya!"

"You mean she went somewhere?" Mihoshi asked.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki nodded vigorously.

"But I made enough for seven people," disappointment visible in

Sasami's words and face.

"Sasami, you shouldn't pin your hopes on that Ryoko-onna always doing

the right thing," a touch of anger in Ayeka's voice over Sasami hurt

feelings. "She is an uchu kaizoku after all."

"But so is obasama," Sasami's look of puzzlement showed she didn't

understand why her sister would consider Ryoko's profession proof of

dishonesty.

"Don't return my words to me, Sasami," a commanding tone to Ayeka's

words. "Seto is totally different from that bakemono. Obasama is of

noble Jurain birth while that oni was born in some back alley."

"Ayeka-sama, as long as you live in segare's house, you will reframe

from using your mouth wrongly while that person is not here to defend

him or her self," a stern tone in Katsuhito's words as he poured

Nihon tea into everyone's cup.

Quickly realizing she had acted improperly, Ayeka dropped her gaze

and replied, "I apologize for my words of thorns, I have trouble

separating my past from the present."

Ayeka's downcast eyes saw two small hands take hold of her left hand

and take it from her sight. The purple-haired princess looked into

her sister's two pink quartzes and the child's voice spoke to her, "I

know what Ryoko-neechan did to you . . . did to Jurai but since

Tsunami-megami forgave her and obasama forgave her and I . . . I

forgave her, why can't you?"

'She can't understand how my heart burns for oniisama, how these

centuries without him have left a rage inside of me,' the ruby-eyed

lady thought. But instead of telling these words to her sister, Ayeka

placed her right hand over Sasami's hands and replied, "For your

sake, Sasami, I will try to forgive her."

"Ee (Yes)," happiness in Sasami's approval and her warm smile made

pale the reluctance in Ayeka's spirit.

"Well, we still have this extra serving," commented Nobuyuki as his

chopsticks picked up a piece of broiled tuna.

"Don't worry, I was going to tell Sasami-chan to make mine extra

large," Mihoshi confided. "But Ryoko-san's share should fit the

bill."

An inner groan vibrated in Ayeka's thoughts, 'Not one of those. They

can eat all day and have not one ounce of body fat.' To cover her

frown, Ayeka took a sip of the onion soup and was surprised by its

taste. "Ara, what a delightful soup. Domo Arigato for making it,

Sasami."

"I agree with Ayeka-san. Dekashita (Well done), Sasami-chan," Tenchi

seconded.

"Me too," Mihoshi mumbled through a mouth full of cooked rice.

"Do itashimashite (My pleasure)," modesty in Sasami's tone.

"I wonder where Ryoko is?" Tenchi's concern muted his pleasure.

"There's the natural hot spring up in the hills behind us," answered

Nobuyuki.

"You mean the one Achika and Ninjin-chan used all the time,"

Katsuhito deadpanned.

"Eh . . . ee that one," Nobuyuki's right hand rubbed the back of his

head as he tried to hide his embarrassment.

"Why didn't I know about it, jiichan," asked a confused Tenchi.

"It was your okasan's favorite spot and I've never really felt like

sharing it with anyone before," fond memories brought softness to

Nobuyuki's voice.

Seeing the impact of those memories on Nobuyuki's face, Ayeka felt

sad for not knowing Achika because she would have liked to meet a

person who could still invoke such love in everyone she embraced.

Mihoshi bright eyes saw Nobuyuki's fond smile and Ayeka's sadness but

she also detected how Tenchi seemed to absorb every word spoken by

his two elders and how Sasami became very quiet.

"Didn't you draw some pictures of Achika and Ninjin-chan while they

were up at the hot spring?" a flicker of a smile on the old priest's

face.

"I think I'll keep those to myself," Nobuyuki hurriedly said as he

gave his rice bowl to Sasami to fill. It's then he noted Sasami's

silence and asked, "Is there anything wrong, Sasami-chan?"

"Ara . . . mo, otousama," the little one is startled out of her own

inward turmoil. To cover herself, she asked Nobuyuki, "I'm just

wondering when we'll get to see Ninjin-chan and Kitsune-san again?"

"I've been thinking the same thing, Sasami-chan, and I think it's

time for me to pick up my hips," Nobuyuki replied with a smile which

was immediately shared by Tenchi and Sasami while a hint of knowing

entered Katsuhito's dark red eyes, Ayeka was confused by the

conversation but kept her peace.

The warm feelings that filled the room brought a little smile to

Mihoshi's red lips as she reached for a pickled carrot stick but

found resistance as she tried to pick it up. Looking down, the blond

bombshell found the brown cabbit holding the other end. "Oi! That's

mine," an annoyed tone in Mihoshi's words.

"Grrr!" rumbled out of Ryo-ohki as she tried to pull her prize from

the GP officer's ebony hand.

"Let go!" shouted the woman with sapphire eyes.

Giggles, chuckles and shouts of encouragement resonated in the room

as the tug-of-war ensured between the upholder of law and the ex-uchu

kaizoku. Finally, with a mighty yank Ryo-ohki freed her treasure only

to go head-over-heels across the table. Sasami had already picked up

her dish on just the off chance of this happening, so the little

brown rocket's path sent her off the table and into Sasami's apron

pocket. Seconds later, the incited cabbit bounced out of the pocket

with fur bristling as she stood over her claim and said to the

upside-down officer, "Grrr!" Ryo-ohki didn't realize that on her head

was a set of headphones, whose wire led to the Walkman in Sasami's

pocket.

"Oi . . . we're missing Kawatta-san's broadcast," regret in Sasami's

words.

"I thought today was his day off?" puzzlement in Nobuyuki's words.

"He's covering for another DJ, whose wife is due to have a baby any

day now," Sasami informed him.

"Why don't I turn the stereo on so we can listen to his opening while

we finish our choshoku?" suggested Nobuyuki.

"Iie (No) . . . it might wake obasama," a drop of disapproval in

Ayeka's tone, mostly because she has caught Sasami using

Kawatta-san's Nihongo-Amerika slang.

"Mo, Ayeka-san," Mihoshi courteously countered. "An anti-matter bomb

could go off next to Seto-dono and she wouldn't hear it in her

drunken state."

Ayeka glared coldly at the GP officer's calm assertion, then stated,

"I just find his vernacular to be a little too addictive."

"It helps me pass the time while I'm cleaning the house, oneesama,"

Sasami innocently replied, knowing what her sister was hinting at.

"Let's put it to a vote," Katsuhito calm voice cut in. When his

suggestion is met with nods, the old priest continued, "Those who

want to listen to Kawatta-san, raise your hand."

A forest of hands filled the air, with Ayeka the lone exception, even

Ryo-ohki lifted a paw. In his brown pants and tan shirt, Nobuyuki

went over to the entertainment unit and hit the on button.

**********

WHOSHI, Kurashiki

Ishido Natsuo looked through her bleach blond hair at the digital

clock on her desk, noting it was time. The young lady's slender form

got out of her chair, turned right and went to the metal table with a

pot of hot water on a hotplate. Her white-nailed right hand opened

the table's drawer and removed a thirty-two-ounce plastic cup with

the Sacramento Kings logo on it; she also removed a container of

cocoa mix. She carefully measured the necessary amount of powder into

the mug, energetically mixed in the steaming liquid and securely

locked the lid into place. As Natsuo walked to the office's glass

door, the coffee cup held level in her left hand, her petite ears

heard a growing thunder of footfalls coming from the hallway. A small

smile graced her white-lipstick colored lips as her right hand

grabbed the door handle, she backed up to open the transparent

partition and held the cup out.

In a good impersonation of Dagwood Bumstead, Anthony MacClean flew

through the open door, his lips brushed Natsuo's left cheek while his

right hand deftly took the black cup out of her hand and his parting

words danced into her ears, "Domo Arigato, Nat-chan."

With a little slide, MacClean pulled a ninety-degree turn to the left

and rocketed down the narrow hallway to the announcer's booth as his

warcry filled the air, "PONY EXPRESS COMING THROUGH!"

As Natsuo headed back to her desk and chair, she remembered. Her

mind's eye replayed the times MacClean helped with her English

lessons, helped balance her budget and helped by letting her cry on

his shoulder when her boyfriend called her yesterday's news. It was

then that he first called her, Nat-chan, and how his compassionate

expression brought sunshine back into her body, into her soul. This

chance exchange opened a door to a nine-month romantic adventure,

which brought healing to her being but some sadness to her life.

Healing in the form of MacClean's gentle honesty and sadness because

she couldn't heal him, for somewhere in his past a scar was placed on

his heart that wouldn't close. Now she was his dear friend, like many

other women. Each he greeted with affection, never with a harsh word

or wounded pride. When she asked the others why they left him, their

answers matched hers, "He'd hold and protect your kokoro but he

wouldn't let you hold and protect his."

Just as she was about to sit, Natsuo curvy body froze as her

green-lensed eyes saw a glint of metal next to MacClean's right ear.

'He was wearing an earring,' her voice full of wonder.

In the announcer's booth, the morning crew of Tom and Dick heard

MacClean's shout as they stood next to the door. Tom grinned and said

to his partner, "Bet's you 500 yens he can make the jump."

"You're on," replied the well-tanned man.

Tom hurriedly grabbed one of the rolling chairs, brought it back to

where they were standing and rested his right leg against the chair's

seat. In a few seconds, the door opened and MacClean spun through the

doorway, his gray eyes locked on the clock over the electrical

equipment. As he took his first steps into the room, Tom kicked the

chair into his path. Without hesitation, MacClean made a little jump

over the chair's back, landed on the moving seat and commented over

his shoulder, "Arigato, Thomas-san."

Tom passed through the open door. Dick followed his partner as his

right hand gave Tom the money and his left hand pulled the door

close, but all this action took place without MacClean's knowledge as

he set up the first two selections for the day and waited for the

advertising CD to end. When the CD sound graph went dead, MacClean

hit the mike switch and shouted enthusiastically, "Good Morning,

Kurashiki! This is Anthony MacClean covering for Kizaki Toru whose

wife is having a baby. I wish you luck and remember who is making

this possible when you name the child. Now open your soul to a little

Rock & Roll, for here's Jefferson Starship's 'We Built This City.'"

MacClean relaxed while a smile touched his lips over his getting to

work almost on time but the expression vanished as his gray eyes saw

a reflection in the booth's exterior window, a reflection from the

hallway window. The man's head twisted around but found no one

looking in yet a knowing look appeared on his face and he thought,

'So that's the reason why I felt like someone was watching me. I

picked up a stray cat at the hot spring.'

If anyone from the surrounding buildings had looked at the top of the

WHOSHI building's roof, they would've seen an ample lady floating in

the morning sun, gyrating on the salty breeze from the Inland Sea,

hearing music only the glowing Gem, on her left wrist, allowed her

ears to hear. For a good hour, Ryoko lost herself in the harmony of

the spheres before she finally stopped and commented, "Well, that was

fun but he's going to be stuck in that booth until late afternoon. I

wonder if there's something else here to entertain me. Except for

that midnight outing three weeks ago, I haven't been in a big city

for a long time."

Ryoko's image faded from the station's roof, then appeared and

disappeared from roof to roof as her sharp amber eyes scanned the

parks and streets below. It took the uchu kaizoku fifteen minutes

before her vision caught something that might break her boredom. From

the roof of a nearby building, she saw a four-story building with its

top floor blackened around the windows. In front of its glass

entrance are police vehicles, a fire chief's red truck and a circular

ribbon of yellow tape to keep the large crowd of onlookers out of the

way. The sight of blue uniformed officers placed a frown on the

lady's plain lips but the frown turned upside-down when her gaze

locked on two familiar figures, a brown-haired American and his

redheaded partner. A quick look to the left revealed an empty

alleyway to her, so in a moment she was gone.

**********

11:14 a.m. North-Forty Ranch

"So it wasn't arson?" asked Lieutenant Miyaji Michiyuki of the

Kurashiki Police as he stood in front of the soapland motel, the

surrounding ground still covered with puddles.

"So far our dogs haven't detected any of the normal chemicals used by

arsonists," asserted Fire Chief Mizuki Shigeru.

"Was there any other yakitori (fire fatality)?" quarried Michiyuki.

"Mo, just the one on the fourth floor and the coroner has already

moved it to the forensic lab," as he answered, the silvery haired

fire chief caught sight of the two Americans walking toward them. "I

think your NZK investigators are here."

The two turned to Mulder and Scully, exchanged bows and cards before

Miyaji continued in slightly accented English, "It's been three weeks

since we've last met. Did your investigation ever catch the murderer

of your fellow officer?"

"Yes, in a way we did," Mulder replied in a somber voice while Scully

nodded her head.

"Gu, let's hope you have the same success with this case," the

middle-aged Michiyuki added. "Shigeru-san, could you show us what

your men have found."

As the three follow the white helmeted man into the building, a

familiar voice caught Mulder's and Scully's ears, "Excuse me, pardon

me, coming through."

Wary looks envelop the two pairs of green eyes as they watched Ryoko

weave her way toward the yellow border. A lopsided smile touched

Mulder's lips as Scully's eyebrows arch at the sight of the ample

lady wearing a mirror image of the redhead's brown suit, except

Ryoko's vest and pant are a hot pink, the coat a darker shade of the

same color and a white necktie covered with blood red hearts.

"I think I'll help our specialist," Mulder told the other three as he

walked quickly toward the oncoming Ryoko.

Just as Ryoko reached the tape, a young officer held up his

white-gloved right hand in front of her pink face and said, "This

area is restricted, you can't go any further."

Mulder saw a menacing gleam enter Ryoko's eyes. So to save the

officer from a deadly encounter, the American in the black trench

coat quickened his steps and called out as he held up his ID, "That's

alright, officer. She's a specialist I've requested for this case."

"Does she have the necessary identification to be here?" the

black-eyed man asked in heavily accented English.

"Don't worry, I'll vouch for her conduct," Mulder reassured the

policeman as he handed the man his NZK card to examine.

With his right hand, the officer lifted his mike from the left side

of his vest, hit the button and asked in Nihongo, "A Mulder Fox wants

to bring an onna into the restricted area. He's told me she's a

specialist but doesn't have any identification for her."

"You mean this kind of identification?" a sweet purr came from

Ryoko's lips as she held out an NZK ID card similar to Mulder's.

The policeman took Ryoko's card, compared it to Mulder and found them

to be alike, except for the photo, badge number and title. Again he

pressed the button and requested in Nihongo, "I have two NZK badge

numbers for you to match: Mulder Fox, badge number JTT047101111 and

Hakubi Ryoko, badge number TEN070052001."

After a few minutes passed, A reply came over the pocket speaker,

"Identities confirmed."

The officer gave the cards back to their owner, then lifted the

yellow tape so Ryoko could enter. As the two walked toward the two

puzzled men and a frowning Scully, Mulder asked, "When did you join

the NZK?"

"Well, I do have to keep a low profile," Ryoko whispered in English.

"Where I used to blow my way through obstacles, I must now relay on

more subtle means."

"But why here?" curiosity in Mulder's tone.

"I was bored," Ryoko's answer mixed with a suppressed yawn but Mulder

thought he detected an undercurrent in her voice.

As the two reached the trio, Mulder gave the introduction, "This is

Ryoko Hakubi, the NZK specialist on the supernatural."

Scully's eyebrows went up in surprise and she said, "Indeed."

Michiyuki bowed and politely said, "Konnichiwa, Hakubi-san."

Miyaji gave a bachelor's smile to the lady in pink as he bowed and

matched the older man's words, "Konnichiwa, Hakubi-san."

Ryoko bowed to them and replied with a smile on her lips, "Domo

arigato, shinshi, and please call me Ryoko and I'll call you

Shigeru-san and Miyaji-san."

"Oke, Ryoko-san," Shigeru warmed to the lady's charm.

As the group headed for the glass entrance, Miyaji told the ample

lady, "You handle our language quite well, Ryoko-san. Not many

gaijins are able to."

"Don't let Scully-san's and my face fool you, Miyaji-san. She lived

in Nihon as a child and I've been in this land for many years," Ryoko

gave a friendly retort as she switched to English, "Mulder is the

only newcomer to this land."

"We'll try to remember to speak in English when Mulder is with us,"

Miyaji promised the NZK agents, Mulder had to turn his head away from

the others to hide his smile.

"Mulder-san, I was wondering why did you ask for this kind of

specialist?" confusion in Shigeru's face.

"I believe someone mentioned something about a demon woman," Scully

interjected while her eyes locked on Ryoko.

"Oi . . .?" both Mulder and Scully were satisfied with the complete

surprise on Ryoko's face.

"I have my suspicions about that witness' statement, Scully-san," a

hard look on Miyaji's face. "I think the witness might be adding a

tail and fins to his story to cover his own failure."

"I don't know about that," countered Scully. "According to the

hospital report, Mogami Sunao will probably be blind for the rest of

his life. His loss of sight would more than prove his courage."

"I'm still not convinced," Miyaji countered with some heat.

"That's why I'm here," Ryoko cut in. "To allow the invisible forces

around us to give aid in our search for the truth."

Scully rolled her eyes toward the heavens while Mulder open the glass

door for them. The odor of burnt plastic and rubber assaulted their

noses when the group crossed the threshold. Ryoko separated from the

others and closed her amber eyes. After a few minutes, she opened her

eyes and said with some concern, "It's going be hard to get anything

here, there's still so much fear of last night's fire in this

building. Plus, the fragments of other emotions you would find in a

place like this."

"Imagine that," Scully deadpanned, Ryoko could tell from Scully's

body language she was not happy with the uchu kaizoku's

impersonation, which only spurred on the mischief Ryoko saw in

Mulder's green eyes. In fact, Scully was not happy with Ryoko's

subterfuge or Mulder's permissive attitude yet she decided to remain

silent as long as the pink lady didn't sabotage the investigation.

"Well, we better put our gloves on," Shigeru told the others. Each

person took a pair of surgical gloves from their pockets, except

Ryoko. A bit of confusion marked Ryoko's pretty face until Scully

gave her the extra pair the redhead carried with her at all times.

"Thanks," Ryoko politely said as she took the offered gloves and put

them on.

With Shigeru in the lead, the little group entered the stairway. As

they climbed the concrete steps, the humidity made their skin damp

and the air hard to breathe, only Ryoko seemed unaffected. When the

party reached the third floor, the fire chief told the others,

"Although the fire spread quickly, it didn't come down the closest

staircase to the source but instead it followed the one at the other

end of the hallway and only halfway through this floor."

"Your men probably stopped the blaze from spreading any further,"

Scully commented.

"Something to be proud of Shigeru-san," added Miyaji with conviction.

"Yes it did," Shigeru nodded his soot-covered head. "But this unusual

pattern made us believe it was a suspicious fire."

"Well, lead us to where you found the body," Mulder calmly suggested,

the others nodded their agreement. As the group made their way to the

fourth floor, Mulder noted Ryoko placed herself behind him so his

body would separate her from the young officer and the fire chief.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, Miyaji and Shigeru led the others

into room with the number 40 on it. Mulder could feel his shoes

crunch down on burnt plastic carpet while Scully noted the fire had

turned every color in the room to black. Both watched Ryoko walk

between the fire chief and the young detective as she headed to the

large bed at the far end of the room. Curiosity touched Shigeru's and

Miyaji's eyes as they beheld Ryoko pressing her left palm against her

heart, then bend at the waist while her right hand, with fingers

spread wide, hovered inches above the chard remains.

"Uhhh . . . " Ryoko moaned as her amber pupils rolled into the back

of her head, then more words floated from her glossy lips,

"Bodies . . . full of passion . . . wrestling as one . . . ecstasy

turned to agony . . . blue flame consuming . . . demon

watching . . . " The slight rocking of Ryoko's body gave Mulder the

warning he needed. With quick steps, he came up behind the pink lady

and grabbed her by the shoulders, Scully just a few steps behind her

partner with green fire in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" concern in Mulder's voice.

"Water," Ryoko choked out but her right eye gave a wink only Mulder

and Scully could see.

"I'll get it," Miyaji energetically answered. The young man took a

few steps toward the bathroom, stopped when he realized it was part

of the crime scene, instead he turned around and headed out into the

hallway. The sound of an opened door told the others he was going

into another room.

"While you're checking this room, I think I'll ask my building

inspector if the structure is repairable," Shigeru barely kept his

amusement from leaking into his words.

When the fire chief left the room, Scully turned her hard eyes on

Ryoko and harshly said, "What was you thinking of, Ryoko. Putting on

an act like that?"

"Well, it was you two who put limits on how much I can show other

Earthlings," Ryoko calmly retorted as she brought her left hand away

from her chest, revealing the Gem's bluish glow.

"You did go overboard with the dramatics," relief in Mulder's tone.

"A girl just wants to have fun," a playful smile on her glossy lips,

then placed her left-hand back against her chest as Miyaji came back

into the room with a small glass of water.

"Thanks," Ryoko softly said as she took the offered glass from the

dark-eyed man with her right hand, took a sip and returned it to him.

"I feel much better."

"What did you see," asked the Kurashiki detective.

"I saw two naked bodies upon this bed, the man on his back with a

woman riding him, the man was having an organism but she was not,"

Ryoko amber eyes take on a distant look. "Then she burst into flames

and his cries of ecstasy turned to agony. Within minutes, his skin

blackened and his body became alit in blue flames. She kept him there

until his pain destroyed his consciousness. Then she stood up, looked

upon her handiwork and left the room by the opened door."

"Anything else?" surprise in Miyaji's voice but Ryoko could see

skepticism in Scully's face and thoughtfulness in Mulder's eyes.

"Follow me," Ryoko answered as she headed for the door, turned left

and headed down the hallway, keeping her left hand against her chest.

The others made their way through the charred surroundings while they

followed the pink lady down the stairs and onto the third floor. At a

door numbered 35, Ryoko pointed at the knob. All of her companions

saw how misshapen the bass shell was. Then Ryoko opened the door with

her right hand, led them to the room's single window which was

already open. Outside was the fire escape but she didn't need to

point out to the others the scorched marks on its white paint. With

some difficulty and a helpful hand from Miyaji, Ryoko managed to get

out the window and go down the metal steps with the rest right behind

her. Upon reaching the alleyway, she walked toward a side passage

between two other buildings. Even in the shadow-covered blacktop,

Scully, Mulder and Miyaji could see impressions of footsteps going in

the direction Ryoko was heading.

Halfway down the passage, Ryoko commented, "They're getting fainter."

The others noted the same thing, as the footsteps became lighter and

lighter, then completely disappeared.

As the group looked around, Miyaji walked past Ryoko, crouched about

five feet from her, touched the ground with his right hand and

brought the gloved hand back up to reveal it was covered with fresh

oil. With precise words, the young man said, "A car was parked here

for a long time,"

"This killing was carefully planned," Scully tone matched Miyaji.

"A professional assassin," Miyaji added as he stood up.

"Or a very gifted amateur," Mulder added.

"Either way, someone wanted Shigeru dead very badly," the others

nodded at Miyaji's statement.

"Well, let's go back to the building and tell the men to go over this

area for more evidence," Mulder suggested. As Scully and Miyaji

turned to leave the area, Mulder's green eyes caught Ryoko's still

form, a look of deep pain within her cat eyes as she stared up at the

hills surrounding Kurashiki.

With gentle touch, Ryoko felt Mulder's right hand on her right upper

arm and her ears could hear his worried voice, "What's wrong?"

Ryoko turned her cyan-haired head to the American, the pain banished

from her face but her words were wistful, "Oh, I'm just homesick.

This is the first time in seventeen years, I've ever been on my own,

away from the shrine, away from my Tenchi."

"Just remember you have a friend here, too," Mulder asserted with a

smile as he carefully led her back down the passageway.

"Friends," Ryoko couldn't keep from matching the brown-haired man's

grin. "Something I haven't had in a long time."

Ahead of the pair, Scully had stopped and looked back when she didn't

hear the pair's footfalls. While the redhead no longer saw the

anguish, on Ryoko's face, she recognized the ample woman's attempt to

cloak her warring emotions. From other times before, Scully knew

Ryoko used light words much as the emerald-eyed lady used logic to

hide her own feelings. Deciding upon a logical distraction, Scully

asked Ryoko, "Since we know you're not clairvoyant, how did you come

up with all that information?"

Sensing faint traces of understanding underneath Scully's critical

statement, Ryoko smiled down at Mulder's partner and replied, "With

the Gem, I extended my senses to the microbe level. Even with the

acidity of the smoke, my elevated sense of smell detected the man's

lust but not hers."

"A professional attitude?" suggested Mulder.

"Uh huh, no hooker ever gets that cold. It would affect her

performance," Ryoko's incisors glisten with her grin. "Since he

didn't leave the bed and the air was heavy with his burnt fat, I

believed she held him down while her fire turned him into a

blue-flamed candle."

"Spontaneous combustion," stated Mulder.

"Although the cases vary, usually an outside source causes the body's

fat to burst into a blue flame," Scully's voice took on a professor's

tone.

"I thought you didn't believe in the supernatural, Scully," Mulder

chided.

"Spontaneous combustion is a well-documented phenomena and has a

scientific explanation," a touch of fire in Scully's emerald eyes.

"In this instance, about as scientific as pigs flying," Mulder

countered as he gave Scully as slight nod toward the lady in pink. 

"Her body was so hot, I could see where her feet stood as she watched

his death, her path to the fire escape and her footprints in the

melted blacktop," Ryoko's curiosity overwhelmed her sorrow.

"Truly, a demon dressed in flames," a playful smile on Mulder's lips.

"Is that why you two gave me the once over when I showed up?" Ryoko

accused them but with amusement in her amber eyes.

"Well, you know the reputation the Demon Ryoko has for causing every

catastrophe in Kurashiki," a causal tone in Mulder's words is

betrayed by a flicker of sadness in his eyes, he remembered who else

said those words.

"Once a demon always a demon?" more levity in Ryoko's accusation.

"Your reaction told us you're in the clear," Scully couldn't keep her

own face from smiling at the other two's interplay.

"We believe a leopard can change its spots," Ryoko detected a thread

of gentleness in Mulder's mirth.

"Thanks guys," a happy tone in Ryoko's words.

"Well, we still have the one witness to interview," Scully words

brought them back to earth.

"Uh . . . Can I tag along?" both Americans could hear hope in Ryoko's

voice.

"Actually, your experience might help us with this witness," Scully's

answer left her partner a little bit surprised.

"So I can come?" Ryoko was also baffled by Scully's statement.

"Yes," confirmed Mulder while Scully nodded her agreement. By the

time the trio reached the back entrance to the pink hotel, the uchu

kaizoku's body language showed she didn't need Mulder's hand on her

arm as her confidence, her old pride, returned.

**********

Soja

The first thing Washu saw after entering her botanical garden, was the

six-year-old standing before the redhead's transparent laptop, the

child's eyes never leaving the screen as the fingers on her right

hand tapped some buttons, every so often. The green-eyed scientist

had purposely left the instrument there to discover the level of the

blue-haired child's intellect. Since their return to the Royal

Academy five days ago, the child had said not a word and Washu became

worried about the youngster's mental skills. The passivity she showed

when Washu poked and prodded her young body ran counter to the usual

reactions of her guinea pigs. Now those dull amethyst eyes are alit

with fascination, her fingers are nothing close to being idle.

Dressed in her favorite light purple nightie and creeping on stealthy

feet, the child-woman was inches behind the girl so she could peek

over the little one's shoulder, what she saw surprised the scientist.

Upon the headline were the words, Galaxy Police Criminal Archives.

Washu also noted the girl's gaze would lock on the criminal's face

for a few seconds before she would hit the mouse's left button to go

to the next portrait.

After a few minutes of observing the young one's abilities, Washu

gently commented with a sly smile, "You show great potential, kochan

but breaking into GP computers should only be done by a

professional."

The child's dark green nightie went slack as her body froze and the

mask of passivity dropped upon her face but Washu's could see

droplets form on her pink forehead. With a light touch of her

right-hand Washu moved the little one a few steps from her laptop

while a snap of her left hand summoned her levitating purple pillow.

As the little scientist sat, her hands danced across the keyboard

while her childlike voice asked, "I assume you were using my search

and retrieval program to break into the GP mainframe?"

The sweat had reached the girl's round cheeks but the dull eyes

remained, which made Washu's smile a little wider and her voice

continued, "While my program is perfect, an expert should still be at

its helm due to the need of speed and the use of countermeasures."

The redhead brought up her right index finger to motion the

blue-haired girl closer, then with the same digit she pointed at a

flashing light and said calmly, "See, some GP technician has detected

your intrusion and started a trace to find and arrest you."

Washu's smile became a grin as she saw the child's eyes slightly

dilate and her sweat became a river. With a few dramatic taps, Washu

let out a high-pitch shout, "THERE! While we strategically withdraw

from the GP sever, the tech will have to deal with his computer

downloading Jurain love poems from the AFC databank."

Still with the Cheshire Cat's smile upon her lips, Washu continued

her lecture, "The next time we'll first go through several secondary

systems to indirectly enter the GP computers, then create some virus

traps and EMP mini-bombs to cover our tracks."

"Oi . . . " the little word escaped from the child's barely open lips

as hope tried to struggle through the child's fear.

"Hai," Washu sharp vision could see the war of emotions fracture the

child's mask. "Although I can understand you wanting to find your

otousama's killers, why didn't you use my laptop to find your

okasama?"

"I can't," tears gathered at the edges of the child's eyes.

"Nani?" shock again touched Washu's vast intelligence.

"I CAN'T REMEMBER!" the child's scream accompanied the river of tears

running down her face.

Quickly Washu's turned around, her firm hands pull down the shaking

body and held the girl against her petite body. Washu gently rocked

upon her cushion and whispered calming noises to the child as the

scientist felt her chest become wet. When the sobbing slowed, the

redhead murmured, "Akachan, what do you remember?"

"I saw them destroy my otousan's ship, then three of them skinned him

alive, just like they did the onna who fought with him," terror

etched in the child's voice.

Washu felt her body go hollow as the girl's words told her of Akara

Naja's fate. Without thought, the little scientist's own tears ran

down her cheeks to find their home in her floating cushion. Even

after the blue-haired girl's sobs cease and the garden filled with

nature's night music, the two girls continue to accept each other's

sorrow. By the time grief's hand lifted from their hearts, the soft

dawn of the artificial sun told the redhead they had been there for

hours. With her mind now composed, she found her charge had fallen

asleep during the night. In a sweet voice, the redhead said, "Wake

up, it's time to leave dreams' streets."

With a tiny yawn, the child with shoulder length hair brought her

small hand up to rub the sleepy bugs from her eyes. With very little

effort, the woman in a preteen's guise saw a ghostly image

superimposed upon the little girl, an image of a boy with sunshine

hair and azure eyes. To banish away the past's phantom, Washu asked,

"Do you remember your name?"

"Hai, my name is Seto," sleep lingered in her soft voice but the

redhead saw the child's passive mask was gone. Then with words full

of a child's trust, the little one asked, "Can I ask your name?"

"I am Washu! The greatest genius in the universe!" the redhead packed

her words with all the self-assurance she could muster. "Until we can

find your kazoku, you can stay with me!"

"What if you find no one?" Washu felt the shake of Seto's body.

"Then you can stay with me forever, Seto-chan," Washu's certainty as

sharp as the wind off a glacier.

As Washu saw gratitude in Seto's ruby eyes, a stab of anguish ripped

through her mind, slashed apart her remembrance and left her the hard

reality of her transparent prison. 'Mo, I can't let Seto's presence

fill me with those memories,' the words occupied her mind as she

replayed the events surrounding Ryoko's most recent pain. Her mind's

eye saw her daughter in the red ground mover, trying to use light

words to mask her suffering. 'I must keep myself alert for

Ryoko-chan's sake. Once, I allowed my happy moments to cloud my mind

but not now, Kagato-san is preparing to strike.'

**********

11:59 a.m. Miyaji's Crimson 1991 Mustang

"So to my amazement I found the little white bottles were filled with

this clear liquid," Ryoko's words tried to capture the puzzlement she

had felt. "When I took a careful sip, I found a wonderful warmth fill

my body. It's then I realized this must be that Nihongo rice wine,

sake."

"So that was your first drink?" asked Miyaji.

"No, I've drunk harder stuff but sake's light sensation and warmth

makes it my favorite drink," Ryoko's smile matched her words. "I

always keep a bottle where I can find it."

Both Mulder and Scully grinned at Ryoko's answer but the noon horn

awoke a new feeling in Mulder, urgency. "Officer Miyaji, can I turn

on the radio and set it to WHOSHI?" Mulder tried to keep a

professional tone in his voice.

"Oi . . . that's right, it's time for Kawatta-san's noon program,"

startled Nihongo words left the black-haired man's mouth before he

added in English, "Go right ahead."

An amused Mulder reached with his left hand, pushed the on button and

turned the dial. As the red indicator reached 101.9 FM, a familiar

English voice filled the car, "Howdy guys and gals, this is American

Karaoke. For all wannabes trying to show you have a fine pair of

pipes, this is your chance to sink or swim. But before we listen to

Igarashi Satsuki's and Nekoi Mick's version of

'Aruki Ni Mujin Chi'iki', let me give you 'Strange Days'." After the

usual introduction music, MacClean's voice continued, "After the last

two dull weeks, things have livened up again. In the vicinity of

Bisei, an onsen was trashed by an uncontrolled demon summoned by an

unidentifiable witch. People should keep an eye open because the

demon has since gone missing. At the same time, a freak windstorm

produced extensive damage to fields and orchards around the same

area. As a capstone, several stargazers in central Nihon witnessed a

UFO passing between the Earth and the Moon. Authorities have not

confirmed this last event.

"Now that we have had our daily dose of the bizarre in our diet,

let's jump into our skirt, spiked heels and wig to follow Mick and

Satsuki on their reckless walk." As the song first bar filled the

car, Mulder quickly turned it off while saying, "Sorry but I don't

want to listen to song about that subject."

"He called me a witch," Ryoko's voice filled with growling anger but

that feeling vanished when she saw the two Americans stare at her

with no small amount of suspicion in their eyes, then her eyes go

wide at what she just let out of the bag.

"So that's your real alibi, isn't it?" asked Mulder with very little

humor in his voice.

"I made a simple mistake," Ryoko hung her guilt heavy head.

"Nice to know what you consider to be a low profile," the sound of

betrayal in Scully's words cut into Ryoko's soul.

"I'm really sorry, guys," Ryoko put all her shame into her words. "I

and Ayeka got into a slapping match and I kind of lost it."

Upon hearing the cause of the incident, both agents exchanged a

knowing look, then Mulder said with a hint of humor, "Just remember

to keep the cat fights down to a low roar, alright."

"We wouldn't want to take you two in for damaging public property and

disturbing the peace, now would we?" Scully's voice matched her

partner's mix of seriousness and mirth.

Catching the tone of their words, Ryoko raised her left hand then

pulled it back down so she could replace it with her right hand, palm

up, before embarrassingly saying, "Scout's honor."

"Did I just miss something?" asked a bewildered Miyaji, he had heard

the exchange but couldn't fathom the hidden meaning behind the words.

"Ryoko is a secret project Scully and I have been working on for the

past three weeks," Mulder replied with a grin. "She's got a few rough

edges that some friends of ours are trying to smooth over."

"You mean she's on probation?" the local detective tried to make

sense of the answer.

"Essentially correct, Miyaji," Scully's answer widened Mulder's smile

and produced a nod from Ryoko. "Ryoko helped us against the people

responsible for the death of First Lieutenant Hideyuki Koyama, of the

NZK."

"I read the official report and I there was no mention of a Hakubi

Ryoko," the confusion in Miyaji's voice deepened.

"The official report was written by our superiors, to hide an

interdepartmental rivalry over an important piece of evidence,"

Miyaji heard anger in Mulder's reply. "Without Ryoko's help, I would

most likely be dead and justice would've been denied for the

murderers."

Miyaji let out a low whistle at Mulder's revelation before he asked,

"But Ryoko is some kind of criminal?"

"Ryoko has a long checked past," Scully came to the ample lady's

defense. "But her file was composed of criminal activities where she

had no control of the events except as an involuntary participant."

"Because Ryoko saved my life, I was able to get her file expunged

from the NZK databank in return for her agreeing to probation and

assignment to my department as one of our specialists," everyone in

the car heard the affection in Mulder's tone.

"That makes sense," Miyaji remembered his first encounter with the

two Americans, three weeks ago, and how enraged both of them were

over Hideyuki's death.

As relief made Ryoko sigh, the amber-eyed woman's thoughts returned

to the source of her annoyance and she asked, "The rest of the gang

has been wondering if you found out more about our man in white?"

Mulder caught Ryoko's allusion and answered honestly, "So far, the

Three Kings found his record before nineteen-seventy-two is as empty

as Christ's Tomb. The only thing we've got is the photograph taken

when he was given his driver's license here in Japan."

"Nihon," Scully corrected.

"Potaytoe, potahtoe," Mulder quipped lightly, then continued,

"Anyway, I've sent a copy of the photograph to a friend in Chi-town,

who relayed it to one of his friends. Maybe she can find something

out."

"In other words, nothing," the redhead finalized.

"Oh, the Three Kings did find rumors of his being found in different

locations across the globe, even now he will disappear during his

vacation only to reappear weeks later," Mulder added to counter his

partner's absolutism. "A name here, a mysterious stranger there but

one thing most of the rumors pointed at."

"Which is?" curiosity in Ryoko's amber eyes.

"He's like the Saint," puzzled looks appear on Ryoko's and Scully's

face before Mulder continued, "He's a catalyst for whenever he

appears, havoc occurs."

"Well, let's hope your snoop can find out more," a frown on Scully's

red lips matched her words. "Smoke and mirror is not my cup of tea."

"I prefer sake, myself," Ryoko countered. "All this mystical stuff

about tea just gets boring." Cheshire Cat's grins broke out on the

faces of the Americans while Miyaji let out a low chuckle. Seeing the

others' reaction, a baffled Ryoko asked, "Now what did I do wrong?"

**********

Masaki Residence

Tenchi stood just a few steps from the backdoor, a hoe in the left

hand, his lunch in his right as his brown eyes stare into the woody

hills surrounding the glassy lake, in direction of Kurashiki.

Suddenly, a golf ball sized rock thumped into his left ear, sending

him crashing onto his right side. Shaking the pain out of his head,

the youth's brown eyes caught the sight of his grandfather standing

over him with Sasami next to him, a look of shock on the little one's

face and Ryo-ohki between the girl's blue ponytails.

"Tenchi, you better show more alertness during today's practice or

that lump on your head will have company," the short haired youth was

very sure he could hear amusement in his priestly garbed

grandfather's voice.

"Hai, jiisan," the tone in Tenchi's words made it sound like he just

called Katsuhito an old man.

"Nani," a dangerous vibration in the old priest's response as his red

eyes slightly narrowed.

"Hai, ojiisama," Tenchi words filled with respect, fearful the number

of lumps might outnumber his fingers and toes.

"Let me help you up, Tenchi-niichan," a wide-eyed Sasami told Tenchi

as she walked forward and raised her little hands to him, the young

man took both of them with his right hand.

With a little huff, the small princess' body counterbalanced the

priest's grandson's larger frame, allowing him to stand in one smooth

motion. "Arigato, Sasami-chan," Tenchi thanked her.

"Atashi warui (I'm at fault), Tenchi-niichan," regret plain in

Sasami's words. "I didn't mean to throw the rock so hard."

"You threw it?" raggedly asked Tenchi as he bend over to brush the

dirt from his brown autumn work clothes.

"Jiichan gave me the rock and told me to throw it at you," Sasami

lowered her head to hide the misery in her pink eyes but Tenchi could

also see it in Ryo-ohki's yellow eyes. "Instead I tried to throw it

so it would pass just in front of your face but I was off-target."

With body still bent over and his head just inches from Sasami's sad

face, Tenchi said in a conspirator's whisper, "That's alright,

Sasami-chan. You have to watch out for jiichan, he's the kind who

doesn't like it boiled or grilled."

Sasami's head moved upward a little so her pink orbs could see

Tenchi's brown orbs. When she saw the sincerity in those mirrors, her

shame dropped from her own and she whispered back, "Hai,

Tenchi-niichan."

"Miya!" promised Ryo-ohki with her right white-socked paw stretched

upward. None of the three caught the fleeting smile on Katsuhito's

face.

As Tenchi stood up with hoe and lunch in hand, Sasami noticed he gave

a backward glance in the direction the youth had been originally

looking. With her inquisitiveness perked, the little girl in the

green-black child's kimono asked the youth, "You were putting your

heart so much into your thoughts that you didn't hear us come up,

Tenchi-niichan."

"Tadshii, Sasami-chan," embarrassment in Tenchi's words and face.

"Can you tell us what you were thinking about?" Katsuhito's own

curiosity brought to the fore by Sasami's observation.

"It . . . wasn't as much a . . . a thought," Tenchi hesitating words

dropped from his plain lips, " . . . as it was an overwhelming

feeling."

"What kind of feeling?" Sasami carefully asked.

"Like . . . a heart being shattered," Tenchi tried to put into words

what he had felt.

Immediately all three of Tenchi's listeners knew what he was talking

about but for different reasons. Because of the link between them,

Ryo-ohki sensed the same emotional echo Tenchi had and knew its

origins, Ryoko. The fuzzy animal filed the information away for later

use but he also noted how quiet her perch had become. Like the

cabbit, Sasami knew the owner of the broken heart. Seventeen years

ago, while the child's body was in icy sleep, she watched Tsunami

free Ryoko's astral body from the dark cave, so it could meet

Tenchi and her mother. When the little princess' asked why Tsunami

did it, her adult form replied, "It's the only way I can answer

Katsuhito-dono's prayer and your advice. By bringing Ryoko-san out of

the darkness and linking her ki to Tenchi-san's ki, she will survive

and become whole again."

"Whole?" the small one asked her larger self as both looked into at

the event unfolding in the goddess' blue pool.

"Once she was like you, with quick dainty feet, a laughing voice and

a loving okasama but it was all taken from her by a ja'akuna otoko

(wicked man)."

"Couldn't anyone save her?" sadness in Sasami's eyes.

"Mo and every time Ryoko-dono found someone to love, the same

ja'akuna otoko would destroy it," Sasami could hear regret in Tsunami

mature voice. "In the end, her life as the akurei no hakai was all he

allowed her to have."

"Maa (Well), I better head to the shrine. I'll see you both later,"

Katsuhito's calm words brought Sasami back to earth. On seeing

Sasami's reaction to Tenchi's words, he now understood why Tsunami

created the psychic link between Ryoko and Tenchi. It was not only

because of his prayer on Ryoko's behalf but also because of Sasami's

influence as the goddess' bondmate.

"Oke, jiichan," Sasami's memories made her voice soft.

"Ee, jiichan, I'll be there after I've tended our vegetable patch,"

Tenchi replied as he watched his grandfather walk under the red

torii, then purposely walked to his destination as he waved his right

hand over his shoulder, looked from the corner of his right eye and

said, "Sayonara, Sasami-chan."

"Bai-bai (bye-bye), Tenchi-niichan," Sasami banished away her sad

thoughts and waved enthusiastically with both hands at the departing

youth.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki's voice the same pitch as the little girl's.

From the living room window, Ayeka saw the events play out near the

lake, she could barely suppress her own giggles when Sasami's missile

nailed Tenchi's melon. 'That was improper of me to laugh at his

injury but it was so funny,' the merry words danced in her head. Then

she saw the show of emotions on Tenchi's and Sasami's faces as she

carefully read their lips, a handy skill to have when dealing with

sleazy diplomats, hardhearted rulers and stubborn bureaucrats. While

she was intrigued by Tenchi's comment, it was the deep sadness on her

sister's face that worried her. 'I'll ask Sasami later,' concern very

evident in her mind.

"Iie . . ." escaped Seto's pink-painted lips as her red eyes

fluttered open while her right hand reached up to shade them from the

painful light.

"Maa . . . Mihoshi's calm voice supplying a soothing sound to Seto's

sensitive ears.

Upon hearing the exchange of words to her left, Ayeka turned her

attention to them. At a proper pace, the older princess walked to the

Western styled table next to the sofa, picked up the glass with the

red concoction in it, gave it a quick stir before tapping the long

silver spoon on the crystal edge.

"Kya . . . please, my head," Seto cried at Ayeka's tinkling action.

"C'mon, Niji-dono (Rainbow)," Mihoshi softly said as she got up,

slipped her hands underneath Seto's head and shoulder and gently

helped her to a sitting position, the damp cloth held firmly to the

woman's head by her pale hand.

"Niji?" Ayeka's eyebrows lifted in wonder.

"Our kazoku's nickname for Seto-dono," the ebony-faced policewoman

sat next to her godmother, then continued in a cheerful voice, "You

can't let the neighbors know a wanted criminal is your houseguest."

"Oi . . . don't shout," Seto's own words causing her pain.

"Drink this, obasama," Ayeka had a commanding tone as she handed the

glass to Seto. "Sasami fixed it for you."

Seto took the glass and asked as her nose smell the acidic drink,

"What is it?"

"According to Katsuhito-sama, it's an Earth cure for a . . . a . . . a

hangover," Ayeka's voice faltered a little when she used the

vernacular word.

"Gu," Seto's voice bounced in the glass as she brought its contents

to her mouth, barely tilted her blue-haired head back and in one long

feat, she downed all eight ounces. Both watchers waited as a mask of

calm slowly replaced the greenish one, the now empty stained glass

held loosely in the tall lady's long fingers. After ten minutes, Seto

opened her eyes and both Ayeka and Mihoshi could see her wise eyes

were once more full of smiles. Looking at both of them as she

withdrew the cloth from her forehead, Seto asked them, "Did I miss

anything important?"

"I was defeated by an uchu kaizoku," Mihoshi moaned in a little voice

but both princesses could see gaiety in her sapphire eyes.

"What did the uchu kaizoku get away with?" glee in the tall lady's

voice.

"A pickled carrot stick," the ebony lady laughed. A burst of chuckles

tumbled from Seto's lips and a small smile found its way to Ayeka's

face.

"I'm glad you are feeling better, obasama," Ayeka commented in

perfect diction.

"I'm just grateful Ryoko-kun was honest with me," relief plain on

Seto's face. "I'd blown half the island away in my drunken state."

Seto's mentioning brought seriousness to Ayeka's mind but before she

could open her mouth, Mihoshi asked in a subdued voice, "Speaking of

the Akakani (Red Crab), I need to ask a favor from you?"

"Ask and I will steal it for you, ne," a look of shock enveloped

Ayeka's face at her grandmother's words.

"Ara, Mo!" Mihoshi barely kept her giggles in check. "It isn't like I

was a kodomo and you brought the Nova Star to me, just because I

asked you to. I wear a badge now, so I would have to arrest you if

you did something like that."

"A star upon my beautiful star," Ayeka caught a note of pride in

Seto's voice. Again Ayeka fought down the jealousy she felt toward

the policewoman, for she had never been able to form such closeness

with anyone except Sasami. Yet with each hour she spent beside

Mihoshi, she saw how the bubbly blond easily won everyone's warm

regards and trust.

"I wouldn't mind if you steal something for me," a cheerful shout

came from the hallway, followed by the twin thumps of shoes being

kicked off, then came the sound of bare feet upon wood as Sasami

skipped into the living room with the brown cabbit at her heels.

"Don't say such foolish words, Sasami," fire in Ayeka's eyes and

words. "A princess does not place herself above the law, she

upho . . . " the flame went out of Ayeka's spirit as Seto's tall

figure blocked off her sight of the littlest princess. The First

Princess of Jurai stared up at her grandmother, expected to see

smoldering embers in those eyes but instead she saw quiet compassion

in that ancient gaze, which weighed her head down in guilt and placed

shame to her words, "Forgive me, obasama. I have allowed my anger to

release wor . . . " Ayeka's words stop when she felt a hand touch her

chin.

Offering no resistance, Ayeka allowed the firm fingers to raise her

gaze to meet those strong eyes, then Seto's voice touched her soul,

"Ii ne, Oujo-chan. In a perfect world, you would be correct but

sometimes good people must do bad things for the right reasons."

When Ayeka heard Seto use her nickname and the understanding in her

grandmother's words, her feet hesitantly stepped forward. Seto

responded by opening her arms, closed them around the slim lady and

gave a forgiving hug, which Ayeka returned.

A few minutes passed before Ayeka and Seto heard someone next to them

give a little sob. Both looked down to see Sasami's pink eyes glisten

with unshed tears while her little voice said, "Atashi warui,

oneesama. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's not your fault, Sasami," gentleness in Ayeka's voice as her

left hand reached out, carefully placed it on the little one's back

and drew her sister into the loving embrace she was sharing with her

grandmother. As she held both of them in her warm affection, Ayeka

lowered her head as she tried to hide her scarlet shame.

"It's not your fault either, Oujo-chan. Ignorance has stripped away

your defenses, leaving you vulnerable to the storm within your ki,"

Seto could see surprise in Ayeka's reddened face and a momentary look

of understanding in Sasami's pink quartzes before it was replaced by

childlike innocence. While she still held her grandchildren, the tall

lady turned her ruby vision upon her godchild and softly asked,

"Mihoshi-dono, you were going to ask a favor from me?"

"Hai, Seto-dono," replied the unusually calm Mihoshi. The ebony

detective wasn't shocked by Ayeka's actions for her blue eyes had

noted Ayeka's body language and the sea of feelings that threatened

to drown the young princess. After a short pause, the blond

continued, "I need to make contact with the Seventh Galaxy Police

Headquarters, to let them know about the loss of my shuttle craft,

Yukinojo. I was hoping you could give me a lift to my main ship?"

"It's a nazukeoya's (godmother's) duty to happily spoil her

nazukrgo," Seto said with a small smile, then she returned her

attention to Ayeka and Sasami and said, "Ayeka-dono, Sasami-chan."

"Hai, obasama," they both replied with fondness.

"It's time for you two to be fully initiated into the Secrets of

Jurai," preciseness in Seto's tone. "After yushoku, we will meet in

your bedroom and perform the ritual."

Ayeka quickly realized what those secrets might contain and she

worriedly asked, "Do you think Sasami is old enough for the ritual?"

"It is necessary, Ayeka-dono," firmness in the tall lady's face and

words. "Because of my oath to the Kaizoku Guild, there are some

secrets I can't reveal to you but Sasami-chan might be able to."

"Because I'm Tsunami-megami's bondmate?" Sasami carefully asked, only

Mihoshi caught the little gasp Sasami made before she spoke her

question.

"Un (That's right), Sasami-chan," reassurance in Seto's reply.

"During the ritual, Tsunami-megami might grace you with the

enlightenment necessary to complete both of your educations."

"We will be ready when you have return," the fragile calm in Ayeka's

voice was betrayed by the slight bodily tremble Seto's and Sasami's

hands felt.

"Sayonara," Seto told them as she gave the princesses' a little

squeeze before she detached herself from them, her hands holding

theirs until the distance broke the fleshy link.

With Mihoshi walking next to her, Seto went to the front door. At the

genkan, both women slipped on their shoes while Ayeka opened the door

for them. At this moment Nobuyuki came out of the kitchen with a

black ceramic coffee mug in his right hand, a cloud of steam arose

from the cup's black liquid, and one of his manga comics in his left

hand. The small group watched from the doorway while the duo walked

ten feet from them. Then Seto reached underneath her kimono with her

right hand and brought out her mirror. As a child, Mihoshi marveled

at her godmother's key, the ornate interweave of Royal Teardrops

around the diamond glass with a handle shaped like a man and a woman

forever interlocked in love.

"Ready," asked Seto.

"Ready," Mihoshi matched the blue-haired lady's dramatic tone.

Then Seto tossed the mirror five feet over their heads. When the

mirror reached its apex, it froze above them as white light rained

down on them from its glass. As the forms of both women and the

mirror disappeared into the illumination, mimicry of thickly accented

English drifted to the spectators' ears, "I'll be back."

"So Arnold-san is known even in space," Nobuyuki commented while

Ayeka closed the door. When the older princess turned to go, Tenchi's

father inquired, "What was that mirror Seto-sama used?"

"That was her key to her Tree, Akakani," Ayeka answered the question

like it was asked by a child, then continued her journey to the benjo

on the first floor.

As the brown-eyed man turned to go to his second floor office, he

felt someone tug on his pant leg. Looking down, he saw Sasami and

asked, "What is it, Sasami-chan?"

"How many candles do we have?" Sasami tentatively asked.

"I don't know," a surprised Nobuyuki replied. "Why?"

"After dinner, obasama will be doing an important ceremony for me and

oniisama," seriousness in the little one's words.

Unknown by the ladies, Nobuyuki had listened at the kitchen door to

the women's discussion, his peeping being the only way for him to

learn anything in this family. Add what Katsuhito told him about the

rite the two princesses performed three weeks ago and the wake done

afterward, brown-eyed man concluded these customs and traditions are

important for the princesses. With a grin on his tanned face, he

asked, "Are candles important to the ceremony?"

"Oi ni," Sasami's answered honestly.

"How many do you need?" as the words left the black-haired man's

lips, an idea entered his mind.

"Lots," hope entered the child's heart when she saw the smile on

Tenchi's father's face.

"Tell you what, I'll get you all the candles you need if you'll fix a

special yushoku for me," a smile slowly developed on Nobuyuki's face

as he held out his little pinky on his right hand. "Deal."

"Deal!" Sasami cheerfully confirmed, linking her right hand's little

pinky with his.

"I'll get you the recipes I want you to use for the meal," boldness

in the older man's voice.

"How many servings do I need to make?" a little puzzlement in

Sasami's tone.

"Just two per recipe," Nobuyuki's teeth flashed in his wide grin.

Sasami's peepers went wide and her little pink hands went up to her

lips in a vain attempt to stop a string of giggles from escaping

from her blushing face.

Quickly the bespectacled man raised his right index finger vertical

to his lips and said while his left hand reached for the telephone,

"This is a secret, Sasami-chan, na?"

"Ee," a happy grin on the child's face.

**********

12:45 p.m. Kurashiki General Hospital

The white clad nurse led Mulder, Scully, Ryoko and Miyaji through a

doorway, into the intensive care unit. In a room without odors, the

group found an unconscious man in a bed near a window, with another

man seated in a metal chair, dressed in a bright yellow sport's coat,

matching pants and ties. All four pairs of eyes saw a bedridden man's

face and hands are fully covered with bandages.

"I'll translate for you, Mulder," Ryoko whispered in English.

"Alright," Mulder replied with a crooked smile. For the last three

weeks, Scully would see this smile on Mulder's face from time to time

and when she asked what was so funny, he'd replied, "Nothing,

really."

Hearing the steps at the foot of the bed and whispered foreign words,

the man peaked over his sunglasses at them, then he told the injured

man in very contemptuous voice, "The deka is back and he's brought

some gaijin tourists."

With eyes narrowed, Miyaji told the seated man, "Benkei-san, I'll

thump your head if you don't keep a civil tongue to these

keisatsukans."

"So filling your ranks with himes (princesses) isn't enough," the man

smirked. "You have to import them."

Miyaji started to retort but Scully raised her right hand. As the

young officer closed her mouth, the rest followed the redhead's lead

by reaching into their coat pocket, pulling out their IDs and showing

them to the man.

The man reached up with his left hand, removed his sunglasses and

gave the ID cards a quick glance, Mulder noted the left-hand pinkie

was missing a digit. With less acid and a drop of interest in his

voice, Benkei asked, "So the old man's money has brought in the NZK

to find his gaki's (brat's) killer."

"And you are . . .? " Scully's tone showed she could barely stand the

man's contempt.

"Benkei," his unshaven face sneered at the officers, "the loyal

partner of the man in this bed."

"Yakuza," Miyaji's disgust made the word harsh.

"You could help us a great deal if you and your associate would

answer a few questions," Scully brought neutrality to her voice.

Benkei showed no reaction to the emerald-eyed lady's request, instead

he directed his gaze on Miyaji and asked, "So our statements weren't

enough to maximize your efforts, you've decided to bring in a dokufu

(femme fatale) to give us a nama enso (raw fellatio), to jog our

memories."

"Only if you want me to bite your dankon (male root) off," Ryoko's

words matched the dangerous smile on her lips.

"I would like to see that," a painful chuckle came from the bandaged

head. "Since the akapori asked so nicely, I'll answer her questions."

"Did you see the suspect?" Scully asked as she got out her notebook.

"Hai, the oni onna was the same shojo (girl) that came in with

Lee-san," a wounded voice replied.

"Can you remember what she looked like?" the redhead asked while she

wrote down the first answer.

"The suke (bitch) wore a wig and colored contacts when she came in

but I got a good look at her in the room, she was the last thing I

saw," anger touched his muffled words. "Her hair was jet black, her

glowing eyes were brown and her skin was burning red. The fire danced

around her body but didn't do any harm to her. Then my sight went

black."

"Can you remember anything else?" Scully carefully asked.

"It's strange," puzzlement entered the victim's voice. "The look on

her face, I'd swear the rain of blood only made her miserable."

"Can you add anything, Benkei-san?" Miyaji's voice had a warning tone

to it.

"Mo, I reached Sunao-kun as he was coming down the stairs," Ryoko was

sure she heard shame in the large man's voice. 'He failed his

companion, his band of brothers,' she realized.

"Dewa (Well), let us know if you remember anything else," Scully

politely told the two men but she was certain from the seated man's

glare, the words were wasted. With those last words, the group filed

out.

After a few minutes of silence, Sunao asked, "Did you bring it."

"Hai, I placed it under your pillow when the eteko (apes) came in,

just on the chance they decided to pull me in for some gomon

(the chair-and-lamp treatment)," a note of finality in Benkei's

voice.

"Arigato for taking the risk," pain in the bandaged man's voice.

"Kazu-kun wanted me to relay his deep gratitude for your unshakable

loyalty," Benkei's right hand touched Sunao's shoulder. "He regretted

not being able to show his appreciation in person."

"I know," understanding in Sunao's tone. "Sayonara, Benkei-kun."

"Sayonara," Benkei sadly returned before he stood up.

As the blind man heard his companion's footsteps reach the foot of

the bed, he commented, "I'd still like to ask the oni onna why she

was so sad."

"I'll send the akurei back to Jigoku (Buddhist Hell), so you can ask

her," with those last words, Benkei left the room.

**********

In the downward moving elevator, Scully's cellphone started to ring

its cheerful tune, "Do You Believe in Magic?" The redhead retrieved

the palm size device from her coat pocket, tapped the receiver button

and said, "Moshi-moshi (Greetings), Scully here."

"I was wondering when I would hear your voice again, Ninjin-chan," a

voice full of warmth touched Scully's ears and her soul.

"Inkushimi," the one word echoed Scully's longing for him before she

realized the others had heard her. Quickly she turned her back to

them but not before her emerald eyes saw happy smiles on Ryoko's and

Mulder's lips while Miyaji looked confused. In a low whisper she

asked in Nihongo, "What brings you calling."

"I was wondering if you would like to have a private yushoku, just

the two of us?" Scully could hear hope in his voice.

"I would love to, Inkushimi, but Mulder and I are in the middle of a

case," Scully spirit brought low by her own reply.

"How about a working dinner?" Scully heard Nobuyuki's hope

undeterred.

Desire touched Scully's heart only to be demolished by her own

logical mind, "I can't, Inkushimi. I'm going to be doing an autopsy

on a body and I don't know how long it's going to take."

"Where at?" a note of optimism in the man's voice.

"The Kurashiki Forensic Lab," then puzzlement entered her mind,

"Why?"

"Oi, have you seen Ryoko-san?" Nobuyuki asked with an innocent voice.

"She's been missing most of the morning and Sasami-chan is very

worried."

"Ryoko-san been helping us with our investigation," Scully allowed

the conversation's subject to change. Ryoko's sharp ears went up when

she heard her name.

"Ara . . . now that's a surprise, Ninjin-chan," honesty in his tone.

"Nani wa, otousama?" a faint worried voice came out of the

background, Scully knew it was the little princess she heard.

"Ryoko-san is with them," the redhead heard Nobuyuki tell Sasami.

"Would she like to talk to Ryoko-san?" Scully friendly offered.

"Would you like to talk to Ryoko-san?" Scully could hear kindness in

Nobuyuki's tone.

"HAI," Sasami shouted loud enough for Ryoko to recognize the speaker.

Scully turned around and told the cyan-haired woman as she held out

the phone, "Ryoko-san, someone wants to talk to you."

Unsure of how to use the cellphone, the uchu kaizoku took the device

from the American's hand, imitated the way Scully used it and said in

Nihongo, "Moshi-moshi?"

"Ryoko-neechan, I missed you at choshoku," unhappiness in the little

one's words. "Why did you leave without telling anyone?"

"Gomen nasai, Sasami-chan," a guilty tone in Ryoko's apology. "I just

wanted to get away from the house for a while."

"It's the way oneesama is looking at Tenchi-niichan, ne," a note of

determination entered Sasami's words, "I'll make her stop if it hurts

you so much."

"Mo!" an edge in Ryoko's response before she concealed it with a

cloak of gentle words, "It's oke, Sasami-chan. Ayeka-san's actions

don't bother me."

"Honto ni?" Sasami's voice full of concern.

"Honto ni, imoto," Ryoko tenderly replied. "We'll talk about it when

I get home, oke?"

"Oke," the uchu kaizoku's large ears detect a child's trust in

Sasami's words.

"Sayonara, Sasami-chan," Ryoko lovely spoke into the receiver.

"Bai-bai, Ryoko-neechan," Ryoko heard Sasami's happiness return.

Silently Ryoko handed the black device back to Scully but the

redhead's right hand felt something wrong with the cellphone. Looking

down, she found a hand impressions in the plastic, one forged by

constant pressure. When her emerald eyes met Ryoko's amber ones, each

could see a mirror of the other's suffering, only Miyaji's English

words broke the link between them, "Your sister, Ryoko?"

"Something like that," all three saw Ryoko's face alit with

affection.

"And Inkushimi?" the young man's curious gaze turned to Scully.

"A blast from the past," Mulder replied for Scully, who gave her

partner a grateful look while the detective puzzled over Mulder's

meaning.

When the elevator's door opened, the group entered the soft lights of

the hospital's entrance as Scully said, "Mulder, while I'm busy with

the autopsy why don't you finish our other case."

Both Americans exchange knowing looks before Mulder replied, "Sounds

like a plan, I'll be back . . . " the green-eyed man looked at his

silvery watch as they walked toward the entrance, " . . . around five

o'clock."

"Mulder, Matsumoto is a four-hour train ride from here, so let's meet

at your apartment in Tokyo," Scully's own humor reduced the ache in

her heart, then asked in a sympathetic voice, "Why don't you take

Ryoko with you, she can help you with any language problems?"

Like Scully, Mulder had witnessed the play of emotions upon Ryoko's

face when she talked to Sasami, so he turned to the pink lady and

asked while holding the glass door open for them, "You won't mind

coming, Ryoko?"

"I don't have anything really planned," Ryoko's tone was light but

both Americans could see the appreciation in her amber eyes, the

gratefulness of not being left alone with her emotional turmoil.

"Miyaji, could you give them a lift to the train station after you

drop me off at the forensic lab," Scully asked as the group walked

toward the lieutenant's car.

Miyaji nodded his head and said, "It's on my way to police

headquarters," then a slight dread entered his tone, "I've got to get

going on the paperwork," then a question popped into his mind,

"Ryoko-san, did you pick up anything during our conversation with the

two witnesses?"

"Only that the man in the canary yellow suit felt guilt because he

couldn't help his comrade against the demon woman," Ryoko recalled the

shame in the man's black eyes.

"That could become a problem," the other three heard the concern in

the young detective's voice.

"Why?" puzzled Mulder.

"Certain members of the Yakuza see themselves as the upholders of

this country's traditions," Scully explained. "Including its military

past."

"So some of these criminals believe they're samurai?" the light of

understanding filled Mulder's pale green eyes.

"Including Bushido, the way of the warrior," Miyaji continued the

explanation. "Because Benkei failed to help his companion and came

out of the fire without a scratch, he has lost face, honor, with the

other members of his criminal clan."

"Which means he might seek out the cause of his shame and regain his

face through vengeance," Mulder finished.

"Most likely we're in a race as to who will reach our demon woman, us

or him," certainty in Miyaji tone.

"This is turning out to be really fun," Ryoko's comment brought a

rolling of emerald eyes from Scully, a lopsided grin from Mulder and

a shocked look from Miyaji.

The cool fall sun drenched the group as they reached the officer's

vehicle. As Miyaji and Mulder opened the rear door for the ladies,

Scully noticed the clouds coming in from the sea and remarked, "You

might find it snowing by the time you reach your destination,

Mulder."

"Burr . . . I hate the cold," Ryoko's body shivered as both women got

in the back of the car.

"I'm sure we'll find someway to stay warm," a playful tone in

Mulder's words.

"That might be fun if the other passengers don't object," Ryoko

licked her lips as her fangs shined in a predator's grin.

"Eh . . . I meant we could buy a heavy coat or blanket at the

station's mall, to keep you warm," Mulder tried to backpedal. "I'm

not that hedonistic."

"Hedonist, I thought you were Hasidic?" deadpanned Scully.

Laughter burst forth from Ryoko lips while Scully gave her

I-got-you-this-time look to Mulder, which the pale green-eyed man

acknowledged with a flash of his white teeth while the confused

Miyaji started the car.

As the car pulled out of the hospital's parking lot, Ryoko's mask of

levity was replaced with one of bitter determination as she placed

her hand against the car door's cool glass window, stared at the

distant hills and silently mouthed, 'C'mon, Ayeka-san. I'm counting

on you.'

**********

Momo Hana Sanitarium, Kurashiki

At the first floor front desk, a jet-black haired woman signed the

entry book. Although dressed in a bright blue knee length skirt, with

matching short brim hat and glossy black shoes, her body contained

none of the joy of life her clothing suggested, only sorrow touched

her features. When the receptionist looked at the signature, she

picked up the telephone and pushed a few buttons. After giving the

person's name over the device, the brown dressed woman nodded her

head, put the phone down and told the calm lady where to go.

With no recognition at all, the young woman turned to her right,

walked down the hallway, made her way between the patients, doctors

and nurses as she headed for the building's rear patio. Her brown

eyes look out the expanse of glass that covered the first floor back,

searching amongst the white-gowned people for the one she sought.

Near the bubbling fountain, her eyes locked on a short, black-haired

woman with a lifeless face. With slow steps, she made her way to the

young woman in the wheelchair, seated herself on the fountain's wide

tiled brim and took the silent woman's thin hand with her right hand.

They didn't hear the sounds of greetings, complaints and nonsense

from the people around them and nothing came from their lips, no

laughter, no smiles, only silence. Soon, the visitor's head leaned

forward to touch the other's forehead with her own, only then does

four rivers' of tears begin to flow, staining one pink face and one

pale face, finally the tears end but not the sound of silence. After

placing tender kisses upon both cheeks, the longhaired lady stood up,

still reluctant to release the other's hand. With a short bow, she

walked away from the woman with dead brown eyes.

Twenty yards away a very old man in a pale blue sweater watched the

two women's meeting with grief-stricken thoughts, 'Two shitei

(children) I brought into this world, twin joys to their loving

ryoshin. They were a pair of enchanted spites leaping and twirling

through adolescent wonderment, now they're strangers to all!'

**********

Shoji

Kagato watched the Treeship moving away from the dark side of the

Moon, on a course to the far side of Saturn. The calculations

continued to hum in his mind as he weighed the pros or cons of the

chance being given to him. With a final decision, the white-haired

man said, "This is too great to leave alone, to eliminate both the

greatest Jurain alive and the most dangerous GP detective in one

blow. It must be done."

Kagato's mind reached into the ship's mainframe and gave the command.

Suddenly, a vibration erupted from deep within the vessel, sending a

numbing pain down the Shoji's numerous chemical neural connections

into its master's brain. The tall man stumbled away from his command

platform, falling on the organ's stool with his right-hand sending

crashing notes into the air. With a cold sweat upon his pale face,

Kagato mentally activated the central control's diagnostic program.

In ten minutes the shaken man received his answer, the auto-repair

system had missed a weakening fiber connection between the energy

flow control cube and the number 5 engine. When the command was given

to intercept Seto's ship, the additional power running through the

fiber tube had caused it to rupture. Not only was the number 5 engine

down but the ultra-energy radiation from the spill had fried the main

navigation computer.

"I can't risk it," cold words dropped from Kagato's lips. "I can't

attack with the Shoji at less than 100 percent." Then a grim smile

appeared on his lips as his eyes returned to the monitor. "Continue

your journey, it seems good fortune rides upon your shoulders, for

now."

**********

Akakani

Seto's let out a small sigh of relief as her red eyes noted Shoji's

go and stop motion in her viewer. 'It's not my doom to fight you,

Isekiwari,' the tall lady's silent words matched her hard eyes. 'I'll

let those you've harmed have their vengeance.' Turning her head to

the right, her gaze softened as she took in the dozing figure in the

floating full body chair. Even in the dim artificial light, the tall

lady could still see the same youthful hope in her godchild's happy

face as it was the first time they met. She knew what had happened to

her beautiful star but she also knew a body of bio-metallic and

chemicals couldn't stop Mihoshi's soul from radiating out, encasing

all in her sunshine.

As a wave of old memories continued to thunder in Seto's mind, her

eyes went back to the monitor, to stare at the Shoji. Impulsively her

right hand stretched out to touch the white image, tears dropping to

the wood floor as her silent lips called out a name. When the tall

lady's hand dropped to her side, her long blue ponytail and curls

wave while Akakani's leaves rustle in a sudden breeze.

"Donata (Who)?" asked a perplexed Seto as she felt intelligence

behind the natural occurrence but it was gone just as quickly as it

came. During the whole event, Seto is unaware of the half-opened blue

eyes watching her before they close so the sleeper could return to

her nap.

**********

Masaki Residence

Ayeka knelt before her desk, carefully typing into her light blue

diary that lie upon her small table, in the room she shared with her

sister. Finished with the last paragraph, she turned the device off,

stood up and carried it with both hands to the secret compartment in

one of her log shaped carrying cases. Her dainty left hand reached

out to touch a hidden button. With an electric buzz, a ten-inch

square of the case popped open so the purple-haired lady could hide

her most secret thoughts in a place where a curious pirate, a sneaky

sister and a young man's nosy father couldn't find them. After

closing the compartment, the older princess walked to the room's

window to look at the view it showed her. As she enjoyed the beauty

of the dancing sun upon the shimmering lake, the woman's ruby eyes

note the buildup of clouds on the horizon. 'I better change into

something more waterproof than what I have on now, looks like we're

going to have late afternoon showers and I don't want to get soaked

like the last time,' a touch of blush upon her cheeks as more of that

memory lightened her heart.

Down below in the living room, Sasami was pulling the Hoover vacuum

out of the closest underneath the staircase. With a white square

cloth covering her bundled hair, the child took a few minutes to

stare at the closest door before she softly asked, "Will we be able

to rescue Ryoko-neechan's okasama?"

A gossamer presence encased Sasami's spirit as a bluish glow came

from the key upon her pink forehead and sad words entered her mind,

'I don't know, Sasami-chan. The future is like the silky down of the

Jurain Star Thistle, radiating out in all directions from the head.'

"We have to help her, Tsunami-megami," Sasami's soft words matched

her own longing. "Ryoko-neechan needs her okachan, just as you need

your imoto."

Sasami felt Tsunami's presence fade back but she could still hear the

goddess' teary last words, 'I can only hope our steps will bring us

to her.'

"Miya?" Sasami heard a voice call up from her feet and she looked

down to see the fuzzy cabbit looking questionably up at her.

"I'm oke, Ryo-chan," Sasami forced a smile upon her face. "Just

drawing a dream in my mind."

"Miya," acceptance in the brown animal's tone.

"So did you get enough ninjins (carrots) from Tenchi-niichan?"

mischief in Sasami's pink eyes.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki shook her head vehemently.

"Don't worry, if you keep bugging Tenchi-niichan, he'll plant more

for you," Sasami smiled as she patted the happy cabbit's head with

her right hand, then she picked up the vacuum with both hands and

carried the machine to the middle of the room, where she put it down

and took the plug with both hands toward the electrical outlet but

not before she slyly flipped the switch on.

As the little princess walked away from the vacuum, Ryo-ohki moved in

to investigate the device. The cabbit saw where the cord Sasami was

pulling out is coming from but it is the cylinder object's long hose

that caught her attention. Following the rubbery, gray tube to the

steely tube attachment, the little animal carefully sniffed the

opening. Since she smelled no danger, the amber-eyed critter pushed

her head as far into the metal end as possible in an attempt to see

anything. This was the moment Sasami had been waiting for. With an

impish look still in her eyes, she plugged in the vacuum.

"MIYA!" Ryo-ohki shouted as she found her head grabbed by an unseen

assailant. As much as she tried to escape her attacker's grasp, the

cabbit couldn't break its hold. Sasami let out pearls of giggles as

she watched the fuzz ball at hose's end jump three feet into the air,

then tried to yank away the vacuum with her powerful hind legs but

this only caused the machine to imitate her every movement.

In the manga library, Nobuyuki was retrieving a small wooden box from

the top of one of the shelves when he heard the sounds of chaos

coming from the living room. With strong legs, the middle-aged man

bolted out of the room, into the kitchen and through the swinging

door. In the living room his brown eyes beheld overturned furniture,

Sasami rolling on the ground in a fit of laughter and the wailing of

a cabbit stuck at the hose end of a very lively vacuum. Shaking his

head with mild disapproval, Nobuyuki's right hand grabbed the

cleaner's electrical cord and pulled the plug out of the socket.

Instantaneously Ryo-ohki shot out of her metal prison and rocketed up

the living room staircase. Upon the house's third floor, Ayeka was in

the hallway, closing the princesses' bedroom door after changing into

her glossy dark green and blue kimono with the matching wide brim

hat. As the slim lady turned from the door, her ruby eyes picked up

an increasingly catlike wail heading to her. Suddenly her red gaze

caught sight of a flying softball of brown fur heading for her head.

With instincts she earned by playing with her childhood friends in

the city, Ayeka brought her hands up and deftly captured the cabbit.

Ayeka delicately brought Ryo-ohki to her face then examined the

cabbit for any injuries as she asked, "Are you all right?"

When Ryo-ohki's dizziness left her mind, she gave a happy reply and

leaned forward to rub against her savor. A tinkle of mirth came from

the Ayeka's plain lips as the cabbit's appreciation tickled her

perfect nose. With her hat wedged underneath her left arm, Ayeka

carried the furry animal in her left hand while petting it with her

right as the purple-haired woman walked down the hallway and down the

stairs. As the duo approached the living room, Ayeka saw Sasami

vacuuming the area underneath the upturned sofa with Nobuyuki right

next to her. With her sensitive fingertips, Ayeka felt Ryo-ohki

stiffened in her hands, then with lightning bounds the animal hopped

to the princess' right shoulder then leapt onto her purple-haired

head. Upon reaching her perch, the cabbit let out a deep growl. Taken

aback by Ryo-ohki's fury, Ayeka continued down the stairs while she

asked the two down below, "What happened to Ryo-ohki?"

"Sasami-chan was being a kitsune with Ryo-ohki," Nobuyuki answered

when he turned the cleaner off. Then he nudged a downcast Sasami

forward with his left hand while saying, "Go on."

"Do I have to, it was funny?" the little one mumbled back.

"Hai, this way you're learn to be more sly," Nobuyuki countered with

a grin.

Hearing the humor in the brown-shirted man's reply, Sasami looked up

at the still bristling Ryo-ohki and said sheepishly, "I'm sorry I

pulled a prank on you, Ryo-chan."

At first Ryo-ohki is puzzled by Sasami's words but as she replayed

the events in her mind, her amber eyes gained a hurt expression, then

the cabbit sprang from Ayeka's head, landed before the startled girl

and began to shout up at the child, "MIYA MIYA MIYA MIYA MIYA MIYA

MIYA . . ."

As the string of rapid words left Ryo-ohki's animated body, Nobuyuki

and Ayeka shared a knowing look as Tenchi's father suggested, "I

think Sasami-chan is being read the riot act."

"Masaka (Jeez), Ryo-chan, I said I was sorry," Sasami was taken aback

by Ryo-ohki's anger.

"Sasami was always an eye of ocha but sometimes her jodan would go

too far," Ayeka replied with a small smile. "Just ask the servants

who got on her bad side."

"Oke, Oke, how about if I fix some glazed ninjins for yushoku,"

Sasami pleaded. Ryo-ohki stopped her yowling but her furry face still

looked mad although her cottontail said otherwise. "I'll make sure

you'll get a double portion," Sasami's promise sent the cabbit's tail

wagging a mile-a-minute.

"Bribe accepted," Nobuyuki chuckled while Ayeka nodded. As Tenchi's

father headed back to the library, his right hand waved the brown box

at the white clad child and said, "I found those recipes I want you

to use for me. I'll leave them on the kitchen's island."

"Ee," responded Sasami as she turned back to the vacuum cleaner but

stopped when she saw her sister still rooted to the same spot. A

thought entered the little one's mind and she said to her sister,

"Oneesama, why don't you watch Tenchi-neechan practice with jiichan."

A look of naughtiness flashed across Ayeka's face before she was able

to suppress it. "I think that is a good idea, Sasami," the older

princess barely able to hide the anticipation in her voice. An impish

smile made its way to Sasami's lips as she watched Ayeka keeping a

dignified pace to her steps to the genkan but noticed her sister's

hands fumble a little while putting on her shoes and hat before she

went out the door. Sasami rushed to the hallway's side door to the

vegetable shed, with Ryo-ohki at her heels. After opening the door a

crack, the eight-year-old watched her sibling walk toward the

shrine's stone steps. Sasami's freckled face glowed with mirth as she

beheld Ayeka's pace increasing with every few footfalls. By the time

Ayeka's small feet carried her onto the first granite step, she was

moving at a very undignified pace.

"Why don't you go with her, Ryo-chan," Sasami smiled down at her

fuzzy companion. "I'm going be busy with the cleaning for a while."

"Miya!" replied a terrified Ryo-ohki as she made her getaway through

the opening, the cabbit really didn't want to become a dust bunny.

"Gu, now I can listen to Kawatta-san while I'm working without

oneesama finding out about it," Sasami gleefully said to herself as

she closed the door, then pulled the earphones out of her white apron

pocket and clicked the Walkman on. "I hope I learn some more nauii

(groovy) words."

**********

The Training Area at the far end of the Masaki Shrine's property.

By the position of the sun, Katsuhito knew it was nearing two o'clock

before Tenchi reached the practice area. Seeing how his grandson was

sweating and himself feeling the humility in the air, the old priest

suggested, "It's a wet day today, Tenchi. Let's strip so we don't

pass out during our matches."

"You think it would be safe, jiichan. I mean with . . . eh . . .

Sasami-chan around," Tenchi quickly pointed out.

"Sasami-chan won't be here for another hour," gray-haired man

countered. "But if you feel the need to protect your dignity, we'll

keep our fundoshi (loincloth) on."

With most of his clothes already sticking to his body after working

in the garden, Tenchi gave a nod of agreement and began to strip. By

the time he was down to his boxers, he felt much better thanks to the

moist breeze dancing amongst the leaves and grass. After placing his

garments out of the way, he turned back to his grandfather but

allowed himself an amused smile as his brown eyes note the priest was

indeed wearing a loincloth, instead of Western style underwear.

"First we'll do some simple warm-up exercises so we can gather the

necessary chi for our matches," Katsuhito told Tenchi as the youth

stood before him.

"Hai, jiichan," the shorthaired young man knew the warm-up well.

Both men stood parallel with each other, then with deliberate

actions, the two preformed the same pattern of hand, arm and leg

movements similar to those used by Taoist monks. After a certain set

was completed, the pace would pick up and a new one begun. By the

fifth series, the trio was moving at an incredible speed but neither

one of them showed any fatigue nor loss of precision in their rhythm.

Fifty yards down the path to the training area, Ayeka finally slowed

her pace. 'Did I do what I just did?' her question reflected the

confusion over her frantic steps and her palpitating heart yet her

feet kept moving forward between the trees in autumn's colors. 'I

allowed one simple hint from Sasami to cause my face to lose color.

Why?' As she replayed the events of the day in her mind, she returned

to Seto's words, 'Obasama said my loss of control is caused by not

knowing the Secrets of Jurai but how? I've never had this prob . . ."

a sudden remembrance stopped her train of thought but then she

continued, "That doesn't count for he was just helping Sasami and me

in searching for our niisan and I reacted to his kindness. Besides, I

didn't even know his name, let along see his face.' It is only when

the deep thinking Ayeka moved out of the shade of the trees' canopy

to the cloudy light of the training field, did she consciously

stopped her steps and looked up.

With only the occasional noise of crushed leaves underneath their

feet Ayeka observed something she didn't expect to see, two men using

the mental conditioning drill of the Royal Family of Jurai. As a

child, Ayeka watched her father train Yosho with the family's secret

techniques just as her mother would train her when she was old enough

to understand their purpose, to discipline the mind, the body and the

soul. But right now it wasn't the calming nature of the routine or the

psychological toughening of the two males' minds the princess was

fascinated by, their almost nude bodies captured her gaze.

Katsuhito's muscled body was like lean leather while his fluidity

allowed him to store his energy instead of wasting it. When the

purple-haired princess shifted her eyes from the old priest to the

youth, a squeak of excitement left her barely parted lips. She had

seen Tenchi's body before, at the garden shed and the onsen, yet this

was first time she had seen his body and mind acting as one. His

motions weren't like his grandfather's, his had the endless energy of

youth powering them as his mind concentrated on perfecting each

footfall, each leg spin and each arm sweep. This was also the first

time she saw how perfect his muscle tone was, how perfect his arms

and legs were but it was something else that had produced her little

noise, for even with his boxers on, her wide ruby eyes could see how

well-endowed the young man was.

As a flushed face statue, Ayeka continued to watch Tenchi until the

mid-afternoon's peace was interrupted by Ryo-ohki inquiring voice,

"Miya?"

With one word all looked at the brown cabbit, then two pairs of eyes

went wide as they locked on each other while an older pair gained an

amused look and only the priest noticed the shininess of the animal's

Gem. Tenchi's left foot slide back but his action was stopped cold by

a throat clearing next to him. A glance at his grandfather showed

Tenchi a stern look on the old priest's face and the young man

gulped, knowing full well what that look meant, 'You will not

embarrass your itoko.'

Tenchi's glance freed Ayeka's crimson face and her head dropped down

in shame but snapped back up with a flash of anger in her eyes. 'Mo!

I must show the proper respect for how skillfully they have

accomplished the discipline,' she mentally scolded herself. 'I have

watched otousama, oniisama, okasama, and Funaho-okasama train like

this, proud of the oneness in each of them . . . ' It was at this

moment comprehension entered the slim lady's thoughts. Ayeka closed

her eyes so her mind could be flooded by the image of Misaki's

motherly glee at their first session together, her inner ear heard

the encouragement from Funaho as she practiced with them and her soul

felt the wonderful togetherness. With purpose, the purple-haired lady

tapped into the completeness the discipline had brought her in those

days and again merged all her facets into one. Then another voice

lightly caressed her being, repeating three words she had heard many

weeks ago, 'Meiyo, gimu, kazoku.'

Tenchi looked on with concern at the stillness of Ayeka's body but

relaxed when he saw a small smile touch her lips. At the same time,

Katsuhito's stoic mask hid his relief over his sister's rediscovery.

When the princess open her eyes, both men could see peace in them.

Still smiling, the lady turned right, bent down and picked up

Ryo-ohki with both hands. Holding the cabbit so neither male could

see her face, the young woman looked into those amber eyes and softly

whispered, "Domo arigato gozaimasu, Ryoko-san."

"Miya," Ryo-ohki's voice had a 'you're welcome' tone to it.

Once again cradling the cabbit in her left hand and petting its silky

brown fur with her right, Ayeka confidently walked to Tenchi and

Katsuhito while saying, "I'm overjoyed this branch of our kazoku has

kept our traditions close to their kokoro."

"With respect to our ancestors and the quality of life the discipline

gave us, they have been passed down by each generation to the next,"

Katsuhito informed her.

Seeing how at ease both Ayeka and his grandfather were, Tenchi tried

to ignore his own bareness before the princess and asked, "So,

Ayeka-san, these exercises are practiced by our relatives on Jurai?"

"Hai," amusement glittered in Ayeka's eyes over the young man's

continued discomfort. "With warships and handheld laser pistols, we

still practice with exercises and bokken so we will know oneness

within."

"Balance must be maintained between the yin and the yang, so the chi

can be gathered without loss and used with integrity," the

gray-haired man added with a nod.

"Un (Yes)," confirmed a calm Ayeka.

"Since the subject has come up, would you and Sasami-chan like to

train with us?" Tenchi saw Ayeka's face went blank at the old

priest's words.

"Gomen nasai but men and women train separately," Ayeka smoothly

recovered from her shock. "Sasami's training hasn't begun but I can

teach her the basics while I continue my own."

"Dewa, you can use this area," Katsuhito barely kept his voice from

cracking with laughter. "It's isolated so no one will see you, just

let me know what time you want to use it."

Ayeka thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Hai but we won't

need to use it until after I come back from Tokyo."

"How long will you be gone, Ayeka-san?" both Ayeka and Katsuhito

could hear the concern in Tenchi's voice.

"I should be gone for about five days, Tenchi-sama" a stroke of

scarlet touched the purple-haired lady's cheeks but cleared as she

focused to still the surface of her consciousness, then her voice

continued, "Katsuhito-sama, I would like to thank you beforehand for

taking Sasami-chan to the Shichi-Go-San Festival. For the last seven

hundred years we were inseparable and I was afraid she would be

miserable without me."

"You must be very close to each other," the old priest commented.

"She held me when my hope threatened to be overwhelmed by fear and I

held her when her ki was filled with loneliness for our otousama and

our okasamas," affection filled Ayeka's words. "Our knees have always

mingled."

"I see," the tanned man barely able to hide his pain. "Tenchi, let's

continue with our practice."

"May I watch?" a proper measure of hope in Ayeka's face as she

continued to pet Ryo-ohki, who produced a loud purr of ecstasy. "I

would like to see if you've added anything to improve the kazoku's

method."

Katsuhito could see from the right corner of his eye the return of

Tenchi's discomfort when he replied, "I don't see why not."

As Ayeka walked over to a fallen tree trunk to sit on and the two men

walked to their bokkens, Tenchi desperately whispered, "Jiichan, can

I at least put my pants on?"

"I'm sure your enemies would allow you some modesty," his

grandfather's biting sarcasm brought a groan out of the young man's

closed mouth. Katsuhito's glasses flashed with sunlight as he picked

up both bokkens and tossed one of them over his left shoulder toward

Tenchi.

Tenchi's grandfather had done this before so the young man deftly

caught the bokken with his right hand but his loss of eye contact

with the old priest's body allowed the older Masaki to pivot on his

right foot, sweep the practice weapon left to right and knock the

short-haired seventeen-year-old off his feet.

As Tenchi looked up at his disappointed grandfather and heard a

mature woman's shy laugh, he thought, 'I wonder how much my head is

going to hurt today.' Then the bokken he had let go of came crashing

down on his nose. 

**********

Masaki Residence

Sasami turned off the Walkman as she entered the kitchen after

finishing her vacuuming for the day. After changing back to her

carrot apron, the curious child carefully opened the six-inch deep

box and found it full of yellowed paper. She gingerly lifted the

first piece and concentrated on the faded kanji written next to the

romaji-printed recipe. "Ninjin-chan favorite, mine too," the girl

read out loud, then saw two tiny ink-drawn eyes next to the comment.

'Achika-sama,' Sasami heard the sadness in Tsunami's soundless voice

as she identified the owner of the symbol.

Sasami remembered. Her dream body stood before the blue-haired

goddess' pool and watched the thin woman under the white covers while

her tear-stained husband held her hand long after death had removed

the pain from her eyes. Behind the child, she heard a half-choked

snob. When her small frame turned around, her pink eyes widened as

she beheld Tsunami collapsing to the green grass. With quick feet,

the little one closed the distance and with tiny hands, she held the

shaking head to her breast and her soothing voice said,

"Maa . . . it's not your fault, Tsunami-megami."

"I'm powerless," a mature version of Sasami's voice cried out. "She

did everything I asked her to do and I could do nothing in return."

"If . . . I . . . gave back the life you've given me, could you save

her," Sasami fought to check her own tears, to be strong for both of them.

"Mo, what I gave I cannot take back," Sasami's hug tightened as a new

wave of shakes coursed through the goddess' body.

"Atashi warui, then," Sasami lost control of her tears. "If the part

you used to create me wasn't frozen onboard oneesama's ship, you

could've saved her."

With blinding speed Tsunami scooped up Sasami, then leaned back her

rainbow-colored kimono body so the crying child was nestled on the

goddess' lap while loving words filled the girl's pink ears, "Never

say that to me, Sasami-chan. You gave me a chance to return to a

world I'd lost. Always remember, whatever the cost for you to be in

my life, in the lives of others, I know it was worth it."

"It is by your simple acts, Sasami-chan, the universe is changed,"

both sets of ears heard those gentle words come from the direction of

the lake. Four pink eyes look up to see a body floating above the

pool now shimmering with white light. The body was not the fragile

thing in the bed but the strong youthful one Tsunami had first known.

As the body continued to hover, the owner asked, "Are you ready to

guide me?"

"Hai," Tsunami answered as she reigned in her emotions. She carefully

placed Sasami on her grass stained feet, so she could stand.

As both goddess and child walked to the edge of the radiance, the

body with long black hair moved to meet them, saying, "Do you think

you can do something for me, Sasami-chan?"

"Hai!" Sasami loudly replied.

A honey smile touched her ghostly lips at the fervor of the child's

answer before she proceeded, "Could you take care of segare for me,

make sure he eats properly. You know how boys are, they'll eat

whatever their hands can stuff into their mouths."

"Watashi yakusoku (I promise)!" certitude in Sasami's face and voice.

"Domo arigato, Sasami-chan," the lady in white thanked the youngster

as Tsunami joined her over the lake of light. The pair turned and

walked to the middle but at the last moment the ruby-eyed woman

turned back to the little one and said, "Let Inkushimi and

Ninjin-chan know I approve of their choice."

"Oi!" Sasami's mouth dropped open, her hands tremble with shock as

her mind snapped back into the present. "Ts . . . Tsunami?" the

little one's question quaked with wonder because on that day, those

last words were not the ones Tenchi's mother spoke.

'I believe a friend just left us a message,' the child heard

admiration in the goddess' voice.

**********

Galaxy Police Hospital/Akakani

Mihoshi sat on the bed's edge, holding her left hand out so the

technician could attach sensors to her fingertips. A pearl of a

giggle escaped her red lips when the first piece of wire and plastic

touched her left pinkie and she said in English, "It tickles!"

The male nurse smiled while the female technician he was standing next

to replied in Juraigo, "What you're feeling are the nanobots

activating the diagnostic connections so we can take a detailed

readout of the GPCB and feed new data to them."

The bubbly woman nodded her head but with each connection her giggles

increased in volume until her curvy body shook in an uncontrollable

fit which caused her to raise her right hand and slam the palm

against the bed frame. The nurse was distracted by the pair of bouncy

breasts in front of him but the female tech's face went pale as she

saw the dent Mihoshi's ebony hand placed in the metal.

"Go . . . Gomen," Mihoshi said while trying to control her laughter.

"I hear someone is having a good day," these words came from a

red-eyed woman with dark blue pants and vest, red cavalry boots with

an equally crimson cape draped over her left arm as she stood at the

hallway entrance.

"NIJI-DONO!" the joy in the policewoman's shout equaled her bounce

off the bed as the tech and the nurse dexterously moved out of her

way. Her first two steps were straight but her balance began to pitch

and yaw, which sent her stumbling forward then backward. At that

moment, the brown-haired nurse's body met hers, his well-muscled arms

wrapped around her chest and stomach, a groan was forced out of his

mouth because of Mihoshi's weight. The white-clad woman regained her

balance but noticed the nurse hadn't removed his hands from her bosom

or flat tummy. With a blush to her dark cheeks, she turned her head

upward and back so she could see the man's own scarlet face. "Arigato

for helping me," Mihoshi's voice heavy with appreciation for his

attention, the tall man nodded his head and released her but with

some reluctance.

Mihoshi returned her blue gaze to Seto, whose azure eyebrows are

lifted with mild surprise but the blonde's ears hear her godmother's

positive words, "Come on, Himawari, you can do it."

Carefully Mihoshi took one barefooted step at a time with the nurse

right behind her, ready to catch her, while the tech's eyes are

locked on the important data the handheld device's monitor was

showing him. After what seemed to be forever, the lady with the

wine-colored ribbon in her hair stood before Seto and said proudly,

"Ano (Look)! I made it wa."

"Dekashita, Himawari," Seto's white teeth shine in her grin as she

walked forward and hugged the policewoman tightly, which produced a

hug from the blond bombshell. "Oi . . . you could give Misaki-dono a

run for her money with that one," Seto complemented with what air was

still in her lungs.

"Niji-dono, I've got someth . . ." dread filled Mihoshi's voice.

"I know and it doesn't matter," Seto gently interrupted. "My eyes

have reached yours and I see only you."

Mihoshi looked over her shoulder at the nurse, the unspoken question

upon her face. The young man smiled and nodded his head. As a

relieved Mihoshi placed her head on Seto's shoulder, she felt

something touch her nose and heard her godmother's gentle voice,

"Himawari, it's time to wake up."

Mihoshi jerked to a shoulder stiff attention in the floating chair

but Seto knew better than to linger too near this awakening person,

having received a spilt lip from a five-year-old version of the woman

before her.

"So we're here?" Mihoshi asked while she got up, pulled the wrinkles

out of her dress blues and picked up the GP cap from the wooden floor

where it fell from her grasp as she slept. The gurgling of the white

fountain's water, the buzzing of insects and the fragrance of

Startica Bells had always made the Akakani a happy place for the

dusky female, even when her world had threatened to dissolve away.

Making one last check of her appearance, the police officer said,

"I'm ready, Niji-dono."

Seto gave a sharp nod and pulled her mirror out from her kimono's

right sleeve, then turned her attention back to the viewer before she

spoke out strongly, "Akakani, proceed with ship-to-ship interface."

Akakani's branches filled with rainbow light, next the brilliance

changed into bands that were broadcast from the Tree's green leaves

and entered Seto's mirror. In the airless land between the heavenly

bodies, the colored threads reappeared between the two ships and wove

their way along the hall of Mihoshi's main ship and blend gradually

with the ship's mainframe. While this was going on, the ebony lady

came to stand two feet in front of the screen while the tall princess

positioned herself just behind her godchild. The mirror glowed

briefly and Seto said, "Interface completed, awaiting password

clearance to activate super interspace hotline."

"Oi . . . eh . . . Mary had a little lamb," Mihoshi gave the first

password to enter her mind of the thousands she knew.

"The password is correct," a mechanical voice came over Akakani's

speakers as both women saw the Galaxy Police ship's communications

dishes deploy from their protective compartments. The same voice

reported, "The super interspace hotline is ready."

"Send the written report," ordered the blond, her voice tinged with a

little apprehension.

"Is something wrong?" concern very visible in Seto's tone.

"The report is sent, waiting for confirmation," the mainframe stated.

"Nothing is wr . . ." Mihoshi's words trail off as she saw the tall

princess' eyes narrowed. The blond let a long sigh flow out of her

lips, before she restarted her statement, "I just hate to report bad

news."

"Because you would rather feel the sunshine instead of the rain?"

Mihoshi felt the blue-haired lady's hand upon her right shoulder and

the comforting squeeze it gave.

"Mo, Niji-dono," the ebony woman countered. "Because I'm the

Marshall's mago, I won't be treated like any other keibu which makes

me unhappy because of the comments I've heard others make about me."

"Dewa . . . there's nothing you can do about it, Himawari," Seto left

unsaid her own feelings.

"I know, I know," resigned tone to the young woman's voice.

"Confirmation given, Chief Nobeyama awaiting oral report," the

emotionless voice ended their conversation.

"I'm ready to give my oral report," Mihoshi announced in her best

professional attitude.

"MIHOSHI-KUN, YOU'RE ALIVE!" both women jumped at Nobeyama's relieved

words bombarded their ears. His next words were at a lower volume,

"Because of our fear over your last statement, a re . . . eh . . .

a support group is organizing to fi . . . eh . . . to help you!"

Seto could see Mihoshi's body stiffened at the Chief's words but her

words were calm, "Sir, I must report the loss of Yukinojo due to a

battle with what the locals call an akurei, I've also broke

regulation 060457.735, making contact with a non-hyperspace race."

Both ladies could see the man's eyes dilate slightly while he picked

up a hardcopy of Mihoshi's report and quickly read it. In a few

minutes, her superior's left hand started to rub his left temple as a

painful look entered his eyes. Seto noticed the man's blue eyes

jumping from one part of the report to another. After a few more

silent moments, Nobeyama looked back at them but as he opened his

mouth, his face paled when he recognized the blue-haired woman next

to the officer. "Kamiki-sama . . . gomen nasai for my rudeness in not

greeting you properly," a gleam entered the tall princess' eyes at

the policeman's nervous apology.

"I accept your apology, keisatsukan," the officer's face became a

chalky white at Seto's own rudeness, then sweat lined his forehead

over the princess' next words, "Now please continue, I and my

nazukrgo await your judgment."

Thinking quickly, Nobeyama locked onto two facts his quick scan of

Mihoshi's report gave him. He brought his right hand up and coughed

into it before he said in a grave voice, "Mihoshi-kun, while the lost

of a sentient support shuttle and the breaking of regulations are

serious transgressions yet your finding the missing members of the

Oken Kazoku Jurai and your discovery of the breaking of Earth's

Special Protection Area are very important achievements. As such, I'm

going to recommend your violations will be placed in your file but no punishment."

"Hai!" Mihoshi strongly affirmed but Seto could see pain in the

viewer's reflection of Mihoshi's face.

Seeing the gleam in Seto's red eyes intensify, Nobeyama knew his

career as a Kishi of Jurai would end in the next minute unless he did

something fast. With a hint of dread in his tone, Mihoshi's superior

continued, "Since your report showed you didn't find any evidence of

Kagato-san's presence near the Earth, I'm changing your assignment."

"Ara?" Mihoshi wondered while the force of Seto's stare seemed to

lessen.

"Aa (Yes)," a little hope replaced Nobeyama's fear. "Your new mission

is to discover those who broke Ginga Yunion law, by interfering in

Earth's development, and relay that information to me, so the Galaxy

Police can arrest them."

"Yes sir!" blue fire in Mihoshi's eyes as she inadvertently switched

into English. "I will find these gangsters and arrest them."

"But your . . . " Nobeyama's words were stopped cold by Seto's

narrowed eyes.

Mihoshi gave an enthusiastic salute with her right hand as she

continued in English, "I will not fail you, sir. This is Galaxy

Police Officer Mihoshi Kuramitsu, ending transmission."

When the screen went blank and Akakani withdrew its connections to

the GP ship, Mihoshi held her chin with both hands and said

absentmindedly in Juraigo, "Now how should I approach this

assignment?"

"Because it's your eighteenth skill level, may I suggest you join a

law enforcement agency and use their resources to reach your goal,"

Seto warm voice answered.

Not expecting a reply, Mihoshi spun on her heels and with starry

eyes, said, "Uaa (Wow)! Niji-dono! That's a great idea!"

Seto smiled as she stepped forward to take Mihoshi's long-fingered

hands in hers then kissed the bubbly blonde's forehead like she was a

little girl.

"Niji-dono, I'm a big girl now, ne," Mihoshi's disapproval made false

by her happy face.

"Of course," Seto's smile became Cheshire Cat's size, prompting the

younger one to giggle at their private joke.

**********

Masaki Residence

The sun's face was slowly covered by clouds heavy with late afternoon

showers but their presence only made Sasami work even faster to

prepare Nobuyuki's special dinner in time so she could change her

clothes and go up to the shrine for her first lesson with Katsuhito.

On her little fingers, she counted out aloud her deeds as her pink

eyes gaze at each of the special containers, "Etto (Let me see),

wakame white miso soup, rice with shrimp, streamed green beans

sprinkled with gomashio, tossed salad with mellow miso salad dressing

and carob amazake brownies." With a smile born of pride, the little

one happily said, "They're ready."

With precise movements, Sasami packed the different sized containers

into a tanned two-by-one-by-two-foot box with the Masaki family mon

on it. After she ran her right index finger along the top to seal the

box, she allowed her excitement to put speed to her slippers as she

made her way to the library where she joyfully shouted from just

inside the entrance, "Otousama! Gohan desu!"

"Domo arigato, Sasami-chan," Nobuyuki's cheerful words reached the

little princess just before he walked out from behind one of the

library's bookcases with a partly opened doujinshi (fan manga) in his

hand. When Sasami looked at the manga's glossy front cover, her

freckled face turned a bright red before she turned around and fled

back to the kitchen. Puzzled, Nobuyuki looked at the cover and

chuckled as he placed it on closest top sheaf. 'I'm sure none of

Sasami-chan's shojo manga showed Charming-oujosama sharing a glass

double dildo with Cinderella-oujosama,' Nobuyuki mentally mused as he

followed the stiff blue ponytails.

**********

Hanawa Kazuichi Machiya (Kazuichi Hanawa Townhouse)

MacClean slid the townhouse's front door open, bolted out of the

rain and hurried up the stairs to the second floor. As he walked to

his apartment, the door to his left opened to show a black-haired

woman. "I hope you haven't forgotten we're going to the play

tonight?" her accusation lessened by the small smile on her face.

"Ya da atashi, Rumiko-dono, especially the costume party afterwards,"

MacClean gave one of his most toothy smiles while his gray eyes note

the lady was concealing her attire under black rainwear. "Just give me

a few minutes to take a quick bath and shave my legs."

"Oke, Anthony-dono," the lady's black eyes could see the warmth in

the man's eyes at her use of his given name instead of his nickname,

even though she was the creator of it.

MacClean gave her a nod then continued to the next door on the left,

partly opened the door but stopped to call down the hall to his

watcher, "Watch out, the Yonnozoku (Gang of Four) are up to their old

tricks again." The dishwater blond purposely walked out of sight but

reappeared with a light blue towel over one shoulder, a plain wooden

stool in his left hand and matching small bucket in the right. The

Westerner made his way to the door at the end of the hall, knocked

once, then slid the door open by hooking one of the stool's leg to

the door's handle. After he went in and closed the door, Rumiko

pulled her head in, closed the door and went over to the makeup salon

she had set up in one corner of her crowded apartment.

When Rumiko finished her face, she looked into the mirror to make

sure the eyepatch and facial scar are perfect. The woman got up from

her chair and removed her rainwear so she could swing her black and

red cape on. After that task was achieved, the patient lady sat next

to her artist's easel where drawings of her costume hung. As she

waited for MacClean's knock, her gaze became distant as she

reminisced about her male friend.

'Friend,' the wispy word was conjured up in Rumiko's mind as she

remembered her first journey into his room. Her catlike curiosity

over her first Westerner's vague answers about his past had brought

her stealthy feet past his door. After a quick eye search of the

apartment, the young lady made her way to a large brown desk tucked

into the right corner, next to the room's window. As she sat in the

plain wooden chair, she could look out the window at the rock garden

in the townhouse's central courtyard. Looking down she saw a

legal-size piece of paper in a picture frame in the middle of the

desk's top. Rumiko had been very good in her English class, so the

words proved no problem for her to read:

I see a tombstone,

But I don't read the name.

I don't need to

Because I know my heart is buried there.

The sun on the horizon gives me no warmth

When you're not here.

The moon in the sky

Doesn't bring sleep to me

When you're not here.

I see the bed our bodies shared,

But I sleep there no more

For my heart isn't there,

It's in the grave.

Sometimes I see a girl go by,

Who looks like you.

Sometimes I hear a voice

That sounds like yours.

Sometimes I smell the cherry blooms

You wore in your hair.

They are phantoms of you.

I see the path where we once walked,

Between the laughter and the tears,

But I don't walk there anymore,

For my heart is beneath the ground.

The blackest Hell,

The darkest dream,

Can't match the loss I feel when you're gone.

I know my memories of you will be with me,

Every moment of daylight and night,

From this day to forever.

Rumiko now realized MacClean had detected her inclination and left

the poem out for her to see, to read, but her younger self had been

caught up in the sweet sorrow within those words. Over the twenty

years they had lived in this townhouse, she watched him heal the

wings of women broken by callous men so they could soar again yet the

gentle man wouldn't let any of them mend his own wounds. She knew the

poem was his warning for her not to get too close to him, for her not

to try to capture his heart because it wasn't his to give, not yet.

So the imaginative lady never tried to become his lover, instead she

became his closest friend and the keeper of his many secrets. 

A light rap to her door brought Rumiko's eyes into focus. Looking at

her watch, she noticed an hour had passed by. Giving her attire the

quick once over, the manga queen got up from the chair, walked to the

door and slid it open with her left hand. This action revealed a

figure that caused her jaw to drop. Before her stood a barely

recognizable MacClean in a white knee-length female nurse's uniform

with matching white shoes and pantyhose, amongst his long red curls

was a white cap with a red cross imprinted upon it.

A surprised Rumiko saw MacClean's gaze taking in her costume then he

said in a female soprano voice as he brought his clutching hands to

his fearful face, "Oi! Harlock-kyaputen, please leave my patients

alone!" the body before the uchu kaizoku bent and twisted which

accentuated the bountiful bosoms and shapely ass, "You can take me,

seduce me and ravish me if it will keep my charges safe from your

lust!"

In wonder, Rumiko took a step forward, looked between her high collar

flaps and said, "Kimi kirei wa yo! (You're beautiful!)"

"Arigato," MacClean's girlish blush only enhanced the way he had

used cosmetics to bring out his feminine features. Unlike the

ridiculous way most men looked as drag queens, Rumiko observed how

the man's boyish face and firm body made him look so natural.

Intrigue by what was before her, Rumiko raised her right index finger

in front of her and poked MacClean's right breast. Their authentic

response brought more amazement from her lips,

"They feel so real, ne."

"You know me, oneesan, always the perfectionist ne," a proper smile

matched MacClean's girlish response.

"Honto ni, bishojo (Truly, a beautiful girl)," a whispered voice came

from the staircase leading to the third floor. Looking up, the two

down below could see four shaggy tops just above the railing.

Rumiko saw a wicked gleam appear in MacClean's gray eyes as he said

in a mature female voice, "Let's proceed to your ship so the shitei

can finish their studies before going to bed, wa."

With brown eyes glaring, Ohkawa Nanase's popped halfway up, leaned

over the banister, pulled down the edge of her right eye with her

right index finger and stuck her tongue out. Both Rumiko and MacClean

saw six young hands come up and yank her back down. "Kya, Nanase-kun,

don't let his words go to your head, he's just teasing us," said a

voice Rumiko and MacClean recognized as belonging to Apapa Mokona.

"I believe you're correct, oneesan," MacClean's gleam spreading into

Rumiko's eyes as they walked to and started down the stairs.

"Akachans should always get their sleep, ne."

Two pairs of ears could hear a tussle break out on the stairs behind

them. "Mokona-kun, now who's acting like kochan, ne," both travelers

grinned at hearing Nanase's voice.

When they reached the front door, both put on their shoes and then

MacClean pulled a traditional umbrella from amongst the more modern

ones while Rumiko opened the door.

"Domo Arigato, Rumiko-sama," a hurried voice came to them as a young

man dodged in while holding his black coat over his head. When the

black-haired man saw her companion, a wide smile appeared on his face

as he said, "I've not seen your friend before?"

"Hitoshi-san, this is Antoine-san," Rumiko barely able to keep

mirth's music out of her words. "She's a pen pal from Amerika."

"Goo . . . Good day," Hitoshi said in halting English as he offered

his hand to MacClean. "I'm Okuda Hitoshi."

Permitting the umbrella to lean against the open door, MacClean gave

a bashful bow and then gently touched Hitoshi's fingers with his

right hand while his left covered his red lips, the soft light of the

late afternoon shone off the hand's long fingernails. "Dozo yoroshiku

(Nice to meet you), Hitoshi-sama," replied in a delicate voice. "I'm

Antoine Deauville."

"Do itashimashite, Antoine-sama," Hitoshi's words tried to bring ease

to Rumiko's friend. "You handle Nihongo very well."

"Arigato," MacClean's kept his voice softly tense.

A burst of giggles came from above them. Three pairs of eyes turned

to the source but saw only the retreat of four young ladies up the

polished stairs, their silly laughs mixed with bare feet running on

wood. "By those kawaii sounds, the Clamp girls seem to be having a

good day," a slightly puzzled Hitoshi commented.

"Dewa . . . we've got to catch our train," Rumiko had to bite her lip

from matching the laughter she heard.

"Where you're going?" genuine interest filled Hitoshi's voice.

"We're going to the Takarazuka Revue," Rumiko noted MacClean was

allowing her to do all the talking. "We going to see their production

of Riyoko-kun's, Versailles no Bara (The Rose of Versailles)."

"I presume by your costumes, there's a Halloween party afterwards,"

Hitoshi observed.

"Ee," both replied.

"I hope you enjoy it, Antoine-sama, na," a pleasant tone in Hitoshi's

words.

"Un," MacClean kept eyes lowered as his right hand took hold of the

umbrella's bamboo handle. "Sayonara, Hitoshi-sama."

"Sayonara, Hitoshi-san," Rumiko added as the two exited through the

door where her companion opened the umbrella, its large decorative

cap produced the music of the rain.

"Sayonara, Rumiko-sama, Antoine-sama," Hitoshi gave them a short bow

which both returned before they started to walk to the bus stop.

When Rumiko heard the door closed, she released a titter she had

suppressed. "Shinjinnai (I don't believe it), Hitoshi-san usually

isn't fooled that easily and you played the shy female to a tee."

"It's the reason I let you do all the talking," MacClean gave a sigh

of relief. "I didn't want a lapse of concentration to blow my

performance."

"Ne ne (Ohhh)! I love this, Antoine-oneesan!" enthusiasm in Rumiko's

voice. "It's going to be so fun tonight!"

"Hai!" MacClean's girlish tone matching Rumiko's, "The Arcadia awaits

us, ne!"

**********

Notes:

The Galaxy Police Cybernetic Body: The GPCB is a first generation

android body to make it out of the testing program to everyday use

for the Galaxy Police, with Mihoshi being the first non volunteer to

benefit from its existence. Some might cringe at me for using nanobot

technology in the series (especially after Star Trek Next Generation

started the blitz of sci-fi shows using them as a plot device) but I

couldn't think of anything that could handle the high maintenance

caused by the constant use yet I wanted the mechanical body to be as

close to a living body without it being biological. Remember that

both Ryoko and Ryo-ohki are considered major breakthroughs as

artificial biological beings but no where in the OAV series or in the

X-Flies do you find computers with mecha bodies. So Mihoshi's new

body must have certain limitations to its ability to duplicate a

normal humanoid body.

Characters:

Ryoko: I dropped clues about Ryoko's behavior without showing my hand

but a major clue got bumped to the next chapter due to page

limitation. If you can't figure it out what is going on, you are

going to need to wait until chapter three.

Sasami: As I've stated in my notes at the end of Book One, I look

upon Sasami as a unique being. While she has the personality of an

eight-year-old girl, she also has the mental capacity of a

seven-hundred-year-old. This produced within the little princess a

blend of adult maturity and child impishness, she has a understanding

of the universe yet remains innocent. Furthermore, I decided early

that she is not passive in her relationship with Tsunami. Sasami has

a major influence on Tsunami, which the goddess has benefited from.

Washu: Because of Washu imprisonment in the crystal, most of her

scenes must occur as flashbacks and observations.

Mihoshi: I'm starting to get a feel for the character but she is

still the hardest one for me to write about.

Tenchi: Tenchi is the easiest character to write because I was just

like him when I was seventeen but even more so. I knew about sex and

girls but I was extremely shy to the point I didn't start showing my

feelings toward them until I got into college. If five beautiful

females dropped into my life when I was seventeen, I probably would

have acted just like Tenchi.

Ayeka: Ayeka is fun to write because the character offers so many

possibilities. While Sasami's rebirth has made her a unique being,

Ayeka is a young Jurain with all the cultural baggage you would find

in such a person, plus the addition of her being the First Princess

of Jurai. I want to stay within the limitations that the first OAV

Season placed on her but still expand her personality.

Scully, Nobuyuki and Mulder: Things will get more interesting for

them in chapter three.

MacClean: I want to slowly bring the character into contact with the

others but still keep him a lesser character, Tenchi, the girls,

Mulder and Scully are the main characters.

Seto: She is the link between Jurai's true past and the Earth's

present situation. As I have shown, she is connected to each of the

main characters in some way and her gentleness is tempered by hard

love.

Rumiko and Miyaji: Both will remain minor characters but both will

sparkle from time to time.

Writing:

Startica Bells: The mention of this flower is a tip-of-a-hat to one

of my favorite authors and friend, Literary Eagle (darling Lita, may

you soar over all the stormy seas to find your rest in paradise).

Nihongo words, idioms and slang: I have received both positive and

negative feedback on my use of Nihongo words, idioms and slang.

Besides the reasons I gave in my notes at the end of Book One, there

are three more reasons for me using them:

One: Except for a handful of writers (Lita, K'thardin, Dav, Happosai,

and a handful of others) I've found several fanfic writers use very

stale dialogue in their stories. They seem to be afraid to go beyond

the straitjacket the dubb dialogue has placed on them. If I can show

them that language is something you can have fun with, to do

sleight-of-hand with and give deeper meaning to your characters, I

will do it.

Two: I have found it a lot easier for me to hear the characters

voices when I am using Nihongo and its kissing cousin, Juraigo. It

also gives me another avenue for jokes, puns and personality traits

with the characters (like when Mihoshi switches back and forth from

English to Juraigo when she gets excited or Ayeka's concern over

Sasami's use of Nihongo-Amerika slang).

Three: Because of what has happened to Cardcaptor Sakura on the WB

and Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon and Outlaw Star on CN, I'm fearful that

the anime companies will decide it is more profitable to sell their

dub distribution rights to an American company that to do the work

themselves. If this occurs, it will be the death of any quality to

the dubs for the American companies are only interested in making a

profit and will ram conformity down our throats. Our only hope is the

parent companies will still sell subtitled versions on DVD. I'm

hoping by using Nihongo in my story, I'll spark the readers' interest

in the language and get them familiar with the most of the common

words, idioms and slang used in subtitled anime, especially to form

jokes and puns, whose potency is sometimes lost by the subtitled

English words. If the parent companies decide the subtitled market is

too small to make a profit and stop producing them, then it's fan

subs for me.


	3. Strange Days, Part Three: Fire and Rain

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo/No Need For Tenchi is a product of

Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this

fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans

of this wonderful series.     

Disclaimer: The X-Flies is the product of Chris Carter and 20th

Century Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this

fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans

of this excellent series.

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess is the product of Kosuke Fujishima and

What's Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi. As such, I'm

getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own

enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of both of these excellent

series (this is here because characters from both series appear in a

couple of scenes).

Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear

in this series. All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of

fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure

coincidence.

Notes: This is Chapter Three of Book Two in my crossover series,

Strange Days. I would appreciate any C&C about this work. My two E

-mail addresses are:

V_Bashaw@hotmail.com

Horosha@RC_Books.zzn.com

The events in Book Two occur just after Episode Four ("Mihoshi Falls

To The Land Of Stars") and in the first season of the X-Flies (both

taking place in 1992). If anyone is interested in using any of the

characters I have created here, please contact me first (especially

about Anthony MacClean). I don't know much about the training and

organizational structure of law enforcement in Nihon and have assumed

that it is similar to ours. If you have questions about the story or

how I portrayed the characters please read the notes at the end of

each chapter and Book One, contact me at my e-mail addresses or post a

message at the AFC message board. I have created a glossary of Nihongo

words, idioms and titles to help readers understand them. You can get

it at TMFFA (under Crossover) or send me e-mail requesting it.

My prereaders for Book Two are K.T.K. (carryover from Book One),

Donald Dortmund, Fuzzy Bunny (another carryover) and Top_Quark. Also

Luriko-Ysabeth helped me on usage of Nihongo in fanfiction. Domo

arigato everyone.

"The Tales of Pretty Sami" are based on an alternate universe Pretty

Sami storyline created by a good friend of mine, Literary Eagle, for

her own Tenchi Muyo OAV series, "Confess To Me." I use it here with

her kind permission and trust (See Notes at the end of Chapter Three

for further discussion).

Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi

Muyo to life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajshima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko, and

Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Charter for his great series.

Warning: Just like the Tenchi Muyo OAV and the X-Flies this work

contains adult language and situations (including some ecchi scenes),

so any minor should get parents' permission before reading it.

**********

Tenchi Muyo/X-Flies Crossover

Series Title: "Strange Days"

Book Two Title: "Fire and Rain"

A Fan-Fiction by Horosha

Copyright: July 27, 2001

Chapter Three: Knowing Me, Knowing You

Children's Ward, GP Hospital

The nurses still found it a marvel when only one voice could be heard

in the children's ward instead of the wave of multiple languages

drowning out any adult reasoning but leaving their charges untouched.

The voice producing this miracle came from a ten-year-old girl sitting

on a small chair with a sea of rainbow-headed children surrounding her

on large towels, their attention focused upon the ebony visitor. The

youngster's sapphire eyes scan the words from the e-book in her hands

as dramatic words leap from her dusky lips, "'I won't let you imprison

Tsunami-joosama (Queen), not while I, Pretty Sami, am her champion!'

Pink fire blazed in our heroine's eyes as she held her baton before

the Jurain lord."

"'What can one little girl do to me, Dogo-sama of the Saishono Kantai

(First Navy)?' an evil sneer appeared on huge man's lips as he

motioned his men forward. 'My loyal ships will overcome the capital's

defenses and my loyal men will take care of you. Tsunami-joosama will

be either my bride or my prisoner.'"

"Just then a man in Dogo's green clan colors rushed into the throne

room, stopped just a few feet from the yellow-haired lord and shouted,

'Sir! Your ships have stopped attacking the planetary defenses!'"

"'NANI!' Dogo's face paled in disbelief as he turned to the man while

his men froze in their tracks."

"'CHO-AI ODORI ATTACK (SUPER-LOVE DANCE ATTACK),' Pretty Sami shouted

as her red-clad body bobbed and weaves amongst the confused green-

uniformed men while magic glitter streamed from the heart-shaped crest

on the end of her baton and covered their bodies, within seconds the

enchanted men dropped to the ground with happy smiles upon their

faces."

"As Pretty Sami turned to face Dogo-sama, the huge man let out a growl

as he took a step forward and brought out his lightsabre's hilt with

his left hand, only to check himself when a muzzle of a plasma pistol

pressed into his throat. His shocked eyes looked down the barrel of

the gun and saw the grim grin on the soldier's scarred face before he

recognized the man's features belonged to Horosha, Saishono Kishi

Jurai."

"'Letting out a whoop of joy, Pretty Sami leapt up the dais steps as

Tsunami stood up from her throne to embrace the blue-haired girl. With

a quiet confidence in her tone, Tsunami said, 'Once again, Pretty

Sami, you have saved Jurai and your joosama from the perverted plans

of evil people."

"'I couldn't have done it without Horosha-san and those who are the

Kishi Jurai,' a touch of modesty in Pretty Sami's voice as she looked

up at her adopted mother. 'They snuck onto Dogo-sama's ships and

helped the crews to mutiny against their wicked officers.'"

"Turning to Horosha, Tsunami said to the dark man, 'So, I'm indebted

once again to you for not only protecting my adopted daughter but also

helping my champion,' knowing looks on both Tsunami's and Pretty

Sami's beautiful faces."

"All in a day's work, Tsunami-san," satisfaction on Horosha's face as

he took the lightsabre hilt from the slack-jawed Jurain lord. The

dark-faced man let out a shrill whistle before he continued, 'I'm sure

someone can find a short cell where Dogo-sama can't lay down or stand

up while I go get Sasami-oujosama from where I hid her.'"

"Tsunami and Pretty Sami suppressed their giggles as Horosha prodded

his prisoner forward with the plasma pistol's nose in Dogo's back. As

the two men reached the main entrance's huge doors, they opened inward

to reveal a group of men in Kishi Jurai uniforms waiting patently.

'You four take Dogo-sama away,' the blond-haired man commanded, then

he nodded at the mass of green on the floor. 'The rest of you can take

the trash out.'"

"When Horosha's frame disappeared from sight, Pretty Sami

mischievously whispered to the queen, 'I better go now so I can get

back to my 'hiding place' before Horosha-niichan gets there.'"

"'Ii ne, Pretty Sami,' Tsunami gave a quick peck to the girl's

forehead before the fleet-footed child turned and ran to one of the

many secret entrances to the spiderweb of passageways that covered the

palace, the grounds and several sections of the great city.'"

"Twenty minutes later, Horosha groaned as he lifted up the bed's

mattress in Sasami's room so the little princess could crawl out from 

between it and the box spring. 'It's safe to come out, Sasami-

oujosama,' he reassured Tsunami's adopted daughter. 'Pretty Sami was

able to stop Dogo-sama from hurting Tsunami-san.'"

"'Yaappii, Horosha-niichan!" exclaimed the girl in her light green

child's kimono as her little arms embrace her guardian but pulled back

when a grasp of pain escaped her protector's lips. 'You're hurt!' fear

replaced the joy in her face."

"'Just a couple of cracked ribs,' a chagrin tone touched Horosha's

words as his black hand rested assuring on her blue curls. 'I kinda of

crashed my ship in Tsunami-san's flower garden so I could get to the

throne room on time.'"

"'Oi, let's get you to the palace doctors,' Sasami placed a protective

right arm around Horosha's waist while her left hand placed the man's

left hand on her left shoulder, allowing him to lean on her for she

had noticed he was favoring his right leg. Then a stern look entered

her eyes, 'and I wish you would just call me, Sasami. You know I don't

like being called oujosama.'"

"'Hai, Sobakasu (Freckles),' Horosha grinned as he used his personal

nickname for Sasami."

"'I like that even less!' a dangerous tone in Sasami's words as she

pulled Horosha even closer to her ten-year-old body which produced a

painful grin on his face."

"'Hai, Sasami-chan,' he replied to the princess' command as he allowed

her to take him down the brightly lit corridor. The end."

A mix of claps, whistles and finger snaps along with happy grins

brought a toothy smile to Mihoshi's face as she stood up and gave a

deep bow to her audience. It was after the bow she perceived one child

was showing a different response from the others, a girl just a couple

of years younger than her. A cat's curiosity moved her feet toward

this girl with the teal colored hair and dark blue eyes that never

stopped staring at the blond-headed girl. After the children put away

their towels, the caretakers took groups of them to different parts of

the huge ward for lessons and projects but the girl with the strong

face waited for Mihoshi to stand a foot away before she got up. At

this point the older girl sensed something was going on underneath

those greenish blue curls, a cold calculation of the possibilities. To

find out what was going on within the youngster's mind, Mihoshi asked

in Juraigo, "Did you like the story, ne?"

"Why didn't Horosha-san kill Dogo-sama immediately instead of letting

him live?" the girl asked.

Mihoshi recognized the girl's speech as the Kathalli variation of

Juraigo and replied, ""Because Dogo-sama had the right to a trial

before his joosama just as all people within the Ginga Yunion have the

same right. That's what my ojiisama told me."

The child's teal eyebrows lift up at how effortlessly Mihoshi replied

in her dialect before she asked, "Tsunami-joosama must be very

powerful for Sasami-chan and Horosha-san to risk their lives for her,

ne?"

Mihoshi felt a probing mind in the girl's words so she honestly

returned, "Sasami-chan and Horosha-san risk their lives because they

daisuki Tsunami-joosama."

The girl's cobalt eyes narrowed at Mihoshi's correction, then she

countered, "Why fight for something that doesn't protect you or put

food in your stomach?"

Mihoshi detected doubt in the teal-haired girl's tone so answered

cheerfully, "Because it makes you happy, wa."

The younger girl could feel the sunshine in Mihoshi's words but she

countered the ebony girl's smile with her own experiences and asked,

"Being happy won't keep you from hunger or the cold."

Mihoshi noted a gleam within the other girl's eyes and said, "It can

if people are your friends, wa."

The shorter girl heard certainty in Mihoshi's words but countered, "I

don't believe you."

Mihoshi felt a razor edge to the girl's tone but asked, "Naze wa yo?"

The longhaired girl heard Mihoshi's puzzlement and answered with an

absolute tone, "Because I never had a friend. Those who followed me

did so because I could get them food, money and a place to sleep."

"I'll be your friend," Mihoshi cheerfully offered.

"Naze no (Why)?" Mihoshi saw a new emotion in the girl's deep eyes

that matched her words, surprise.

"Because everyone needs a friend," the girl found no guile in

Mihoshi's sapphire eyes or her words.

"You don't even know me," bafflement in the girl's words which Mihoshi

sensed.

"During the time we've been talking, no one has come up to ask you to

play with them, to ask how you feel or to ask you about me," the dark-

haired eight-year-old found only truth in blond-haired ten-year-old

words. "You're lonely, in need of a hand to hold onto, someone to shed

tears with."

"I don't know you," Mihoshi found wariness in the child's words.

"Baka wa, I'm the Vice-Marshall's mago, Kuramitsu Mihoshi," the child

in a plain brown suit saw the richly clad girl hold out her right hand

without hesitation.

For a second the teal-haired girl with cobalt eyes wavered then she

grasped the hand with her own right hand and said, "I'm Makibi

Kiyone."

Just then a light sensation touched several spots on Mihoshi's nose

and cheeks, bringing about a tickle, a sneeze and consciousness.

Looking up from the seat she was sleeping in, her large eyes saw a

large white feather in Seto's left hand while her pointy ears heard

the tall lady's words, "Gomen for waking you up from your happy dream,

Himawari, but we're back in orbit around the Earth."

"That oke, Niji-dono," the dream's sunshine radiated in Mihoshi's face

as her leap from the chair brought the policewoman right next to the

uchu kaizoku which caused her godmother to flinch a little. "I'm ready

to bring justice to all those desperados," her excitement caused the

statement to be finished in English.

With a nod of her blue-haired head, Seto brought out her mirror,

paused a minute to concentrate while her key briefly glowed. Satisfied

with her bondmate's reassurance about the Shoji's status, the Jurain

princess started to use the key to shape the flow of power when she

heard a happy sigh leave Mihoshi's lips. The tall lady turned her

scarlet vision from the mirror to her godchild where she found

sapphire orbs still full of joy's aftermath. With amusement, the older

woman commented, "You're full of smiles."

"I dreamed of Kiyone," fondness in Mihoshi's words. "Remembering the

first time I met her."

"At the GP children's ward?" the blond bombshell nodded then a

grinning Seto continued, "I wasn't there when you two first met but I

did get involved at the tail end of the 'Great Escape'."

Giggles from the two women filled the air around them as roses bloomed

in Mihoshi's cheeks and the blond shyly said, "Kiyone heard about the

Earth game, hide-and-go-seek, and wanted to play it but she told me

the ward was too small for it, I suggested we could go outside the

quarters. Kiyone liked the idea but one of the nurses told us we

couldn't because Kiyone was under custody for something she did."

"Didn't let that stop you, ne?" the tall lady said in a small smile

her face.

"Kiyone just silently stood there but I could tell she was

disappointed," Mihoshi's own voice reflected her memory. "Then I

remember the story I'd read to the children a few days ago, 'Pretty

Sami and the Great Escape'."

"You always did like those stories," Seto tone reflected the memory of

the numerous times her godchild would read them to her by the glow of

the blue-haired woman's mirror, under the child's bed blanket.

"I loved them because they showed Ayeka-oujosama's affection for

Sasami-chan, her respect for Tsunami-megami and her own feelings about

Jurai," then Mihoshi voice softened with sadness, "later on when I was

older, her words told me of her longing for her oniisan or someone

like Horosha-san."

"Do you still have them?" Seto wanted to deflect Mihoshi from the

trail of tears she was heading to.

"Yip! The whole collection is at my father's home!" there was

excitement in the ebony woman's English words. "I had some bootleg

versions Ayeka's friends distributed to remind the Jurain people about

their missing princesses but I was overjoyed when Queen Misaki gave

her official permission for them to be published!"

"Isn't 'Pretty Sami and the Great Escape' the last one to be

released?" Seto pushed the conversation back to its original subject.

"Hai, Ayeka-san heard about what her friends were doing and sent the

story along with a message to her ryoshin," Mihoshi switched back to

Juraigo, "letting them know she and Sasami-chan were doing fine."

"And the story told you how to get Kiyone-san out of the children's

ward, ne?" a knowing look appeared on Seto's face.

"I smuggled in a tin of Jurain sweet mochi to bribe the other children

to cause a distraction," a foxy smile appeared on Mihoshi's red lips

as her memory filled her mind of small naked youths throwing their

clothes about with shouts of glee. "It worked so well we walked out

the children's ward unnoticed."

"But something happened," Seto's words more a statement than a

question.

"Ee, I found out Kiyone was really good at hide-and-go-seek," awe

filled Mihoshi's eyes, "at my last I'm-it, I couldn't find her."

"Your ojiisama said you were crying your eyes out when he found you

wandering the hallways," sympathy in the tall lady's fair face.

"I was afraid Kiyone was hurt and couldn't call out for help," the old

fear returned to Mihoshi voice. "Ojiisama decided to take me home

while the men continued the search for her."

"But you saw something after the ship landed at the city's spaceport,"

Seto could barely keep her words from being overwhelmed with laughter.

"As I and ojiisama walked down the ramp toward the entry gate, I

looked back at the ship and saw a small figure drop out of one of the

landing gear wells," a child's certainty in the young woman's tone. "I

only got a glimpse before it disappeared underneath the ramp but I

knew it had to be Kiyone."

A smiling Seto nodded her head before she said, "It was then a frantic

call from your okasama got me out of a really boring meeting on Alpha

Centuri. Even after a three-day journey at flank speed, I found they

were still searching for the missing mago of the Vice-Marshall."

"I just wanted to find my friend," Mihoshi's asserted.

"Himawari, you could've heard water sprinkle when you walked through

the front door just as I opened it to walk out and search for you,"

Seto slowly shook her head in false disapproval. "And what was it you

were dragging in by your right hand but the missing Kiyone-san, who

was trying not to look like she was hiding behind you."

"I wanted my ryoshin to meet my friend," the simple truth ringed in

Mihoshi's clear voice.

"Your otousama was happy to meet Kiyone-san but your okasama screeched

about how torn and soiled your clothes were," then Seto's look changed

from a grin to a frown as she continued, "what did you two do anyway,

crawl through every rat hole, benjo and sewer in the city?"

"Ara, I didn't know Kiyone had changed the game from hide-and-go-seek

to tag-you're-it," Mihoshi gave Seto a guileless smile.

"How did you finally catch her?" Seto had asked this question to

Kiyone but the longhaired woman would only blush and mumble an answer.

"I told Kiyone I would take her to my home where I'd make sure no one

would ever hurt her again," Mihoshi's inner eye saw Kiyone staring up

at her with defeat in those greenish-blue eyes but quickly surprise

banished away the exhausted teal-haired girl's sense of loss when

again that same ebony right hand was offered to her in friendship.

"Partners forever . . . " Seto started a set of words she heard her

little sunflower say a thousand times.

" . . . 'Till death do us part," Mihoshi's words had the clear

softness someone uses when speaking their wedding vow.

Seeing Mihoshi's eyes start to mist over, Seto said as she brought her

mirror back up, "It's raining down there so I'm going to beam us down

in Katsuhito-san's office at the shrine."

"Why there instead of somewhere in the house?" Mihoshi's eyes cleared

just as Seto hoped they would.

"Because everyone is in the shrine's haiden (hall of worship)," Seto

replied with a drop of curiosity in her voice.

"Oi, they're there for Sasami-chan's practice," Mihoshi's dusky face

brightened.

"Sasami-chan's practice?" Seto's eyebrows arch up with wonder.

"Hai, Tenchi-san's ojiisama is taking her to an Earth festival in

three days time and Sasami-chan is practicing for it," Mihoshi

confirmed with a small smile.

"Dewa, let's hurry," Seto gave Mihoshi a quick nod before closing her

scarlet eyes and facing her upright mirror. The policewomen stood next

to her godmother as she placed her white-gloved right hand on the

older woman's firm left shoulder while a moonlight glow emitted from

the glass. After a dramatic toss in the air, rainbow light rained down

upon the two female figures as they and the mirror disappeared.

**********

Masaki Shrine

The ornate construction of the exterior of the haiden sharply

contrasted with the simpleness of the interior which was designed to

focus everyone's attention upon the ritual they were performing, only

the presence of the stout black pole upon a stand next to a low altar,

with gold lightening bolt streamers attached to its crown could

counterbalance the beauty of the ritual's participants. Upon a sacred

table were six bowls containing the traditional offerings to the Kami

of the shrine, a smoked mackerel, a bright orange, glittering grains

of sea salt, the soft whiteness of sweet rice, a bottle of sake and

some pink umeboshi (pickled Nihon plums). To the right of the bowls

was an arms-length branch from Funaho-Ki and a rolled-up norito prayer

scroll. At ten feet in front of the altar could be found the kneeling

forms of Sasami in a silky dark blue kimono with a light blue sprinkle 

of raindrops. Behind her are a green-blue clad Ayeka and a curious

Ryo-ohki with a mustard-yellowed ribbon and bow around her neck. In a

parallel line between the altar and the two females were the priestly

dressed figures of Katsuhito and Tenchi.

Sasami watched with excited filled eyes as Katsuhito stood up smoothly

and performed the purification ritual by gently waving Funaho-Ki's

gift from right-to-left-to-right over her, Ayeka and Ryo-ohki's head.

She could see the Jurain aura about the branch and hear within her

mind the happy greeting of Funaho-Ki as it passed over her head. After

the chief priest sat, the little princess watched Tenchi, acting as

his grandfather's assistant, read the prayer scroll, asking the Kami

to bless the pink-eyed child, her ruby-eyed sister and the amber-eyed

cabbit with health, happiness and fulfillment. Sasami had to steel

herself so she wouldn't smile at how strange it was that a creation of

Tsunami was being blessed by another creation of Tsunami but she

wanted her first practice to be faultless. 

After Tenchi knelt back down and giving the rest a moment to absorb

the meaning of the words, the girl-child watched Katsuhito stand again

from his tatami mat (a hemp-fiber mat) to reverently walk to the stand

where the dark-lacquered pole lay. With forbearance, the gray-haired

man carefully lifted the pole with both hands, turned to face the

others and with measured steps made his way to Sasami. As the man

approached with the device gripped by one hand and cradled by the

other, astonishment froze Sasami's features as she beheld a gleaming

energy about it. Unlike the moonlight aura surrounding all things from

Tsunami or the sickening green light from the man in her nightmare,

the girl child beheld that this object pulsed with grayish glitter,

neither light nor dark but something in-between. With great care, like

the pole might explode, Katsuhito moved the pole over Sasami's head

like he did with Funaho-Ki's branch but he delicately allowed the

streamers to brush against the little girl's blue head as she clasped

her pink hands before her. Just before they touched, Sasami could feel

a stirring come from Tsunami but before she could wonder at the

goddess' interest one of streamers touched Sasami's key above her

forehead. A tiny gasp escaped from her lips as her soul was seized by

a sudden dizziness caused by a shout of joyful recognition from

Tsunami then darkness overwhelmed her senses.

The kneeling Ayeka kept her face neutral but within she was proud at

how Sasami bore herself during her first practice session but then her

ruby eyes widen as her sister's body started to tumble over after the

streamers part from her brow. With speed born from a sister's love,

Ayeka caught Sasami's falling body before it even had a chance to

touch the hardwood floor as Tenchi rushed forward and both Seto and

Mihoshi broke out of their hiding place behind the partial closed

front door, Katsuhito placed the pole back on its stand before

returning to the fearful group.

"Sasami!" Ayeka's voice filled with fear as she cradled her sister's

limp body in her lap, a body that felt as light as a feather to her

sister's sensitive hands. "Are you alright?"

"I'm oke, oneesama," Sasami tried to place as much reassurance as

possible in her words as her pink quartz flittered open, "I was

suddenly lightheaded, that's all."

"It's a wonder you shouldn't feel this way," Sasami looked up at a

concerned Tenchi as his words continued, "after all the work you've

done today."

"Maybe we should share the chores?" a kneeling Mihoshi suggested as

her long-fingered hands held and patted to soothe a frantic Ryo-ohki.

"I think that is an excellent idea, Mihoshi-san," Katsuhito agreed

with a nod as he stood over the kneeling group, whose eyes told the

old man how much they loved the child.

"I'll draw up a daily list of chores and spread them out amongst

everyone," as the words left Tenchi's mouth an embarrassed look

appeared on his face as his eyes locked on Seto.

"I will handle Ayeka-dono's share of the list until she comes back

from her trip, ii ne?" Seto's supportive words brought relief to

Tenchi but everyone saw a frown on Sasami's face.

"Don't you want us to help you, Sasami-chan?" Tenchi puzzled over the

little princess' response.

"Hai but only under one condition, Tenchi-neechan," seriousness

appeared on the freckled girl's face as the others lean forward in

anticipation. "I'll do all the cooking and any chore I want to do."

"I think we can accept your condition, Akaruime," Katsuhito responded

with a knowing smile as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Just then a loud thump echoed from the tiled roof, quickly followed by

ceramic shads, a moss-covered rock and a stream of water fell on the

people within the room but caused no harm.

"Dewa, here's one chore only we men can do," certainty in Katsuhito's

tone as he continued, "Tenchi, let us go to the office to change out

of our priestly garments and get back into our work clothes, then

we'll get the ladder, ply wood and some spare tiles to patch the

roof."

"Hai, jiichan," for once Tenchi was not bothered by his grandfather's

decision to use his strong back.

Moments later the women watched Tenchi go up the ladder with tiles, a

small piece of ply wood, hammer and heavy nails stripped to his back

while Katsuhito braced the ladder with his weathered hands. While

Ayeka was perfectly comfortable in her waterproof kimono and wide brim

hat, Seto and Mihoshi were under a borrowed umbrella, Ryo-ohki being

given the full-court-treatment by Seto's loving hands and Sasami wore

a child's transparent hooded slicker Nobiyuki had given her just

before he left for his surprise dinner date.

Minutes passed as the gentle sound of rain kept time with Tenchi's

hammer. Suddenly another crack interrupted the concert and a shout

drifted to those down below, "Kuso!"

Roses appeared on the ladies faces as a chorus of giggles was shared

by them while the elderly priest called up, "Be quick Tenchi, my flesh

and bones aren't as strong as they use to be."

"You could've fooled me, jiisan," Tenchi mumbled under his breath as

he remembered the number of times his grandfather smacked his young

body during today's kendo practice. The only consolation he got for

his bumps and bruises were the sympathetic looks Ayeka's perfect face

gave him each time he picked himself off the ground, even in his

almost naked state. "I wouldn't mind if Ayeka-san or Ryoko were there

to lessen the sting of jiichan's blows," the black-haired youth added

as he shifted to the other new hole.

As the last blow from the hammer secured the new tile in place, Tenchi

moved his center of balance to his right, so he could make his way to

the ladder, but his geta-clad right foot slipped off as does the left

one. Frantically Tenchi hands claw at the tiles but the rain and

momentum made them too slick to for a permanent grasp. Down below a

pair of ebony ears are the only ones to pickup the faint clacks of a

tumbling dropped hammer on ceramic tiles.

"Nani, Oi, Ara?" slipped out of Seto's, Sasami's and Ayeka's lips as

they watched Mihoshi suddenly tear away from their little group and

run at neck-breaking-speed toward the ladder. Katsuhito's gray

eyebrows arched up as he beheld the look of determination on the

policewoman's face but he also noted the slight right shift in her

angle of approach. Four red eyes and two pink ones became saucer size

when their sight showed the priest's hands yank down hard on the sides

of the ladder as Mihoshi sprang up to the ladder's fifth step and used

the extra height to vault even higher into the air, it's then everyone

else's ears detect the clamor from the hall's roof and catch the blur

of Tenchi's body tobogganing into the wet air.

"TENCHI-SAMA! TENCHI-NIICHAN!" escaped from the frightened princesses

except for Seto, whose eyes gain a glint of pride as Mihoshi strong

arms caught the wide-eyed youth ten feet above the ground but then her

left hand went up to cover an embarrassed smile as her godchild's

landing feet hit a patch of mud.

"KKKYYYAAA!" escaped from the mouths' of both Mihoshi and her package

as they skidded into the shrine's rear support wall where their bodies

produced a dull thud.

When stars cleared from Tenchi's brown eyes, he found his muddy face

just inches from Mihoshi's mud spattered face, her sapphire eyes full

of joy. "Domo arigato gozaimasu (Thank you very, very much), Miho-

san," Tenchi's words full of gratitude as he got up off of her and

offered his right hand to her.

"That's oke, Tenchi-san," Mihoshi blushed at the way Tenchi had

addressed her, "you saved my life yesterday," but then she cut loose

with a piecing wail as she saw the condition of her uniform, "I'm

covered in MUD!"

Mihoshi's cry of anguish is cut short as the dusky woman's body rocked

with the impact of the plastic-covered body of Sasami and a tearful

cry reached the policewoman's pointy ears as blue curls covered her

neck, "Oi! Arigato! Arigato! Mihoshi-neechan!" Mihoshi looked over the

princess' blue ponytails and noted Ayeka's nod of agreement with her

sister's assertion while the gilt of pride in Seto's eyes needed no

translation.

"It was really nothing, Sasami-chan," Mihoshi's words tried to comfort

Sasami before a thought entered her mind. With mischief the young

woman placed her dark hands on the little one's shoulder and pushed

her gently a few inches, then with her left index finger the detective

touched the pink wonder's cute nose, leaving a button-sized speck of

dirt upon its tip while saying with false shock, "Look at you, all

dirty!"

All tears vanished from Sasami's mind as the woman with the sunshine

hair called up pearls of giggles from the princess' heart. Barely able

to keep his own relief out of his voice, Katsuhito suggested, "I think

we should all take a bath."

"A wonderful suggestion, Katsuhito-sama," Ayeka warming up to the

idea. "Since there are more of us than of you, can I suggest you and

Tenchi should bathe first since it will take us longer."

"Ee," the priest concurred.

As the group head to the stone stairs, Seto fell in next to the older

man and asked in a low voice, "Did you know what would happen when the

pole touched Sasami?"

"I was uncertain," Katsuhito replied at the same volume, "because of

my training as both a Jurain warrior and a Shinshoku, I felt the

resonance of the aura surrounding the gohei (a sacred pole) when I

picked it up but this isn't unusual for many sacred objects have this

same quality to them."

"What do you know about the object?" questioned Seto.

"The gohei was given to me by the guji of Achi-jinja for helping in

rebuilding their shrine after it was destroyed during a recent war,"

Seto heard the note of pain in her grandson's voice as he remembered a

friend long dead. "They had the two gohei and knew I didn't have one

for the Masaki-jinja. So they gave me the older one."

"Has anything like this happened before?" Seto knew full well how

secretive a grandson Katsuhito could be.

"Nothing beyond the normal revelation experienced by a true believer,"

the gray-haired man honestly replied.

"But you said you were uncertain?" Seto returned to the priest's

statement.

"Sasami being Tsunami-megami's bondmate could make her sensitive to

such an aura but I can't be sure because I've handled the gohei

without suffering any undue effects beyond what I already described,"

a thread of puzzlement entered Katsuhito's tone.

"There could be something special about the bond between Sasami and

Tsunami-megami?" supplied Seto as they started down the granite

staircase.

"That is what I'm starting to believe myself," the man slowly nodded

his tanned head, "but what it is I'm unable to uncover."

"We might never discover the truth if Tsunami-megami doesn't want us

to know," a note of suspicion in the tall lady's voice.

As unfathomable words pass between the oldest members of the pack,

Mihoshi walked next to Tenchi where she quietly asked him, "Why did

you call me, Miho-san?"

"Oi, gomen," a crooked smile on Tenchi's face matched his words, "I've

spent so much time with jiichan, I'll sometimes slip into his southern

pronunciation."

"So my name would be pronounced as Miho-san?" Mihoshi's voice lost

some of its husky luster at such an ordinary explanation.

"Hai," Tenchi replied, unaware of the effects of his nearness had on

the policewoman.

"So your name would be Ten, Ten-san or Ten-sama?" Mihoshi eagerly

asked.

"Hai," Tenchi wondered at what these questions were leading up to.

"Could I call you Ten-sama?" a splinter of hope in the ebony woman's

voice.

"I don't see why not," Tenchi replied with a courteous smile on his

lips.

"Then you can call me Miho-san, ne?" Mihoshi could barely restrain

herself from reaching for the youth's hand.

"Oke, Miho-san," although he noted Mihoshi's expression of hero

worship to him, Tenchi was happy to grant the young woman's request.

'She did just save my life, after all,' the brown-eyed youth thought

to himself.

Behind the shorthaired man and the policewoman, Sasami absentmindedly

followed them with Ryo-ohki nestled between her blue ponytails,

underneath the plastic hood. The child smiled at the fact she had

another 'sister' but what her mind kept replaying was Tsunami's shout

of joy. In the seven hundred years of Sasami's direct relationship

with Tsunami, it's been the last sixteen years the child witnessed a

complete disappearance of the iron goddess of legend, instead she

found a many-sided being. It had taken years of gentle coaxing by

Sasami to bring Tsunami out of her armor and in the passing centuries

they had laughed, cried and shared quiet moments together. But while

watching the repair on the roof, Sasami had tried to contact her

constant friend but no warm presence of the familiar entity came, it

wasn't as if Tsunami had reverted to her stoic isolation but instead

was hiding from her little companion. 'I'll go look for her tonight,'

a mix of concern and wonder in the little princess' thoughts.

Under the plastic hood, in the softness of Sasami's hair, Ryo-ohki's

amber eyes shifted from one walking figure to another as her own

musings and the echoing feelings of the spying Ryoko swirled in her

mind. An amber glare was fixed on Katsuhito as the cabbit felt Ryoko's

suspicions of the old man's actions. Toward Seto Ryo-ohki noticed

Ryoko's deep respect for her fellow sister-in-arms was tempered with

concern over the leader of the Kaizoku Guild own secretive intentions.

For Tenchi, Ryo-ohki felt the rumble of Ryoko's undying love for the

young man but there was a terrifying fear for his safety caused by the

appearance of the Shojo and its owner. Looking up at Ayeka, Ryo-ohki

felt a cascade of emotions over the link for the princess: jealousy,

humor, sympathy and envy, yet the cabbit noted an underlining emotion

of sad acceptance over the young princess' attraction to the black-

haired youth. With the same emotional level as her love for Tenchi was

the tidal wave of worry, passing over the link from Ryoko to Ryo-ohki,

for Sasami. The little one's collapse during practice had brought a

mental scream equal to the one Ryo-ohki had uttered and only her quick

recovery calm both minds. Finally, there was puzzlement over Mihoshi,

a rival for Tenchi's love or a new ally against her former master.

Next to Sasami, Ayeka seemed to walk calmly but her emotions burned

recklessly within her, triggered by the pleasant words her ruby eyes

saw being exchanged between Tenchi and Mihoshi. 'Another one to share

his kindness with,' as soon as those hot words filled her mind, she

shuddered at their implications, 'It is wrong of me to be resentful of

her! She just saved Tenchi-sama's life while I just stood there,

frozen by my fear of losing him, but I should not feel such passion

for him. I know I love my oniisama, my inazuke, yet a fire scorches my

body whenever another shojo makes eyes at Tenchi-sama. It is as if I

have already claimed him as my own but it's not true. Yosho is my

itoshii, not this boy whom I have known for only three weeks!' As her

feet slowly descended the shrine's stone steps, the purple-haired

princess called upon her mental discipline to slowly suppress the

horns of jealousy upon her head. With desperate hope, Ayeka thought,

'After tonight's ritual, perhaps I will be able to handle these

upheavals better if I know what is causing them.'

**********

4:51 p.m. Kurashiki Forensic Lab

Scully sighed as she dropped her blood-covered gloves and apron into

the disposable hamper, "Another autopsy, another dollar."

Purposely the redhead walked to the tape recorder to tap the stop

button and pop the cassette out so she could place it in her shirt

pocket. During the whole examination of the body, she tried to keep a

professional attitude about the work at hand but she couldn't keep the

feeling of loss from barging into her soul, the loss of a chance to

see Nobuyuki again. Seeing the time on the room's clock, Scully

hesitated as she put her brown coat on but decided the train station

was her only option, maybe it wasn't the best one but she still wasn't

sure if she could follow her heart. As her right hand opened the lab's

outer door and her body passed from the dark room she shared with the

dead to the world of the living, her sad musings vanished as her

emerald gaze fell upon the smiling face of a man sitting alone in the

hallway.

Frozen by disbelief, with her mouth too heavy to keep closed, Scully

watched the man in the light blue pants and the white-and-blue-

stripped shirt stood up, used his right hand to pick up a large box by

its carrying strap and walked to her in confident strides before he

said to her in a disarming fashion, "I thought you would be hungry,

Ninjin-chan, so I had Sasami-chan fix a surprise dinner for just the

two of us."

"How long have you been waiting?" Scully's tongue finally finding

life.

"Just an hour, not long at all," Scully found Nobuyuki's smile so warm

after the hours she had spent in isolation.

"So what did you bring us, Inkushimi?" Scully couldn't stop from

blushing as her own stomach rumbled out its impatience.

Nobuyuki chuckled as he turned on his heel and offered his left arm to

the lady as he said, "Why don't you lead us somewhere so we can

partake of this wonderful meal?"

Scully looked at the offered arm, then at the look of affection in the

tanned man's face and again at the strong arm, knowing what it held

forth was something more than a chivalric gesture, it was a chance to

continue something that started three weeks ago with a dance. With her

heart still warring with her consciousness, guilt fighting with need,

Scully laid her right hand on his arm. By this means she took him to

the building's cafeteria.

Half-hour later, the night shift personnel in the cafeteria were

staring down at their plain rice, pickled eggs and lukewarm miso soup

with sad expressions as their nose and mouth told them the dullness

their meal was compared to the one the redheaded foreigner and her

black-haired companion was sharing at one of the corner tables. Scully

was a little nervous because of the glances but the delicious favors

and wonderful textures of the food she was partaking with Nobuyuki

helped keep her doubts in check. Seated across from each other, both

of them could sense the other's feelings, Nobuyuki could tell that by

the emerald-eyed lady's silent eating she was afraid to say anything,

fearful of where it could lead to, while Scully noted a daring

restraint in the number of times he would leave his right hand halfway

across the table, within touching distance.

After the consumption of the main meal, Nobuyuki smiled at Scully,

reached blindly into the box while saying, "Let's see what Sasami-chan

prepared as a desert," but he let out a puzzled noise as his left hand

missed the container holding the brownies and instead found a palm-

sized object. Bring it out of the bag, both pair of eyes went wide as

they recognized the round piece of clear resin and the precious

treasure it contained, a hair ring of black and red.

Wordlessly, Nobuyuki rested his hand palm up on the table while both

his and Scully's mind reached into yesterday's domain, where on a

sunny day a young boy and his girlfriend decided to help their friend

to ride a bicycle. After some encouraging words, a few cuts, a couple

of bruises and a tamed bike, the three rested under the shade of

Funaho as the three ate the launch the black-haired girl fixed for

them. With the last of the rice balls gone, the oldest girl asked,

"Ninjin-chan, Inkushimi, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Naze wa yo?" asked the girl with curiosity's glow in her emerald

eyes.

"I would like a piece of hair from both of you," a seriousness in her

words but a bright smile upon her pink face.

"Naze wa yo?" the redheaded girl one repeated her question.

"I can't tell you, akachan," the older girl's eyes full of sunshine,

"I can only show you."

The youngest girl and the boy looked at each other, each nodded once

and with the boy's army knife they each gave the ruby-eyed girl what

she had asked for. Kneeling down between her friends, the older girl's

delicate hands weave first her own hair and the boy's together to form

a ring then she looped the fiery hair particles around the black ones

to tightly bind them together.

Twin grasps of awe came from both sides as the youngest girl said,

"Its kawaii, Achika-neechan!" while the young man added with

affection, "It's kirei na, Achika-chan." A sad expression touched the

little one's fair face, a look that wasn't missed by the longhaired

girl.

Holding the hair ring in her upturned palm before her friends and with

love in her tone, Achika suddenly said, "Let's swear an oath."

"What kind?" eagerness alight the redhead's cute face.

"A very special one, Ninjin-chan," a sly smile upon the older girl's

face.

When the nine-year-old girl and the thirteen-year-old boy nod their

heads, Achika cleared her voice and then commanded, "Place your right

hand on top of mine." First the girl's small hand covered the ring

then the brown-eyed boy's rested on both, which caused the child's

face to match the color of her hair. Barely able to suppress her

mirth, Achika closed her eyes and continued, "Repeat after me: in dark

or in light . . . "

"In dark or in light . . . " both voices spoke in union as her friends

closed their eyes.

"In the deep or in the heavens . . . "

"In the deep or in the heavens . . . "

"In the roar of thunder or the gentle laughter of rain . . . "

"In the roar of thunder or the gentle laughter of rain . . . "

"We will be together."

"We will be together."

"If the sun falls from the sky . . . "

"If the sun falls from the sky . . . " both noticed their skin start

to tingle.

"If the moon no longer shines . . . "

"If the moon no longer shines . . . " even through closed lids a white

glow reached their eyes.

"If the stars cannot twinkle . . . "

"If the stars cannot twinkle . . . " both felt a warm presence

swirling around the edge of their consciousness.

"We will be together."

"We will be together." A splinter of fear started to form in their

mind but the presence removed it with a gentle needle.

"Even if sight cannot see . . . "

"Even if sight cannot see . . . " hearts beat as one as all three feel

their love intertwine.

"Even if touch cannot feel . . . "

"Even if touch cannot feel . . . " as the words flittered out, three

minds became one.

'Even if hearing cannot listen . . . ' the words came from unmoving

lips.

'We will be together.'

'Should our feet walk not the same path . . . '

'Should the veil separate us . . . '

'Should one wait for the others to come . . . '

'We will be together.'

As the oath ended, the noise of birds and bugs returned as two minds

left behind the memories of yesterday to reach today. Both Scully and

Nobuyuki look at each other with eyes glistening before they looked

down at the talisman resting in Nobuyuki's right palm while

emotionally choked words left the man's trembling lips, "I thought I

lost it."

"Looks . . . like Sasami-chan . . . found it," Scully's replied in

broken words as her strong hand reached over to hold the tanned hand

resting on the table.

As the palms of both Scully and Nobuyuki touched their friend's gift,

the tears couldn't be contained as both rested their foreheads upon

the others' right shoulder. In a room now empty of any other person, a

light drizzle of tears bathe their hands and leak between their

intertwined fingers. What came next wasn't planned or even thought

about for as a redhead and a blackhead turned to face the other, their

lips met. A gentle lingering kiss it was, as both tasted the salty

tears shed for their departed loved one.

Minutes pass before the couple's lips part and then Nobuyuki's husky

voice said, "It's strange, Ninjin-chan, I should remember the oath

that way."

"I know, Inkushimi," Scully's tone matching his. "It's like parts of

it were hidden from us until we needed to remember it more than an

oath of friendship between children."

"Funaho-Ki na?" Nobuyuki unsure he should utter the name.

"So you know about Achika-san's bonding with Funaho-Ki, ne?" the

loving smile upon Scully's face matched her words.

"When we married, Achika-chan decided no secrets should be kept from

each other," the Nobuyuki's face gained a gentle look, "and you?"

"We always shared our secrets," softness entered Scully's tone.

"Even your ai for me, Ninjin-chan," Nobuyuki's words a statement more

than a question as a happy smile touched his lips while Scully's

cheeks redden, "I didn't realize it was there until that remembrance

showed it to me," then a new thought entered his mind, "Do you think

Achika-chan knew she would die."

"It is possible Achika-san's bonding with Funaho-Ki gave your okusan

the sight to see our possible future," an acorn of insight entered

Scully's mind.

"Then the oath and the hair ring . . . " Nobuyuki started in a

whisper.

" . . . Were meant as triggers should what she'd perceived came true,"

Scully finished in the same way.

"Achika-chan wanted us to be together," enlightenment visible in

Nobuyuki's eyes as he realized he had made the correct decision about

his future with Scully.

"Knowing she would be with us, sharing her ai for us," lightness

entered Scully's heart as the heavy burden of guilt was removed.

With souls full of happiness, the two stared into each other's colored

pools as their left hands delicately stroked the other's face and

hair. Time unfroze when the alarm on Scully's watch went off and broke

them apart. Breaking the protective embrace of the symbol of their

love for themselves and a fallen beloved, Scully hit the off switch

with her right hand while noted the time was 5:48, Scully said with

heavy words, "I have to go, Inkushimi. I need to catch a train to

Tokyo."

"Let me take you to the station, ii ne?" Nobuyuki gave Scully a light

kiss and found how much he missed the rose petal softness of a woman's

lips.

"Oke," Scully returned the kiss, her need called within her to

continue to taste the nectar from the flower of her heart but logic

forced her to rein herself in so she could help Nobuyuki to repack the

box with the food containers. With the box's strap over his left

shoulder, the two walked out the room with Nobuyuki's right-hand

holding Scully left, then Nobuyuki used his left hand to offer the

hair ring to Scully but she shook her head before saying, "Keep it for

us and say arigato to Sasami-chan for me, for everything."

"I will," certainty in the black-haired man's tone.

**********

Train to Matsumoto

As the cities, towns and villages of Nihon flashed by the silvery

serpent upon its steel trail, two passengers sat next to each other

but were in different worlds. With a careful glance at the other

occupants around them, Mulder made sure none of them bothered the

cyan-haired woman next to him, the American took note of the faraway

look upon her sharp face and the reddish glow from the left wrist held

close to her chest. In the time before they changed trains at Nagoya,

Mulder's pale green eyes watch a play of expressions pass across

Ryoko's face: tender love, giggling laughter, stony glare, jaw dropped

fear and a Cheshire Cat's grin. This display brought back to Mulder's

mind the mystery of her being here with him instead of with the ones

she loved most. Running over the information Ryoko had told him about

her past, Mulder deduced there was only one thing that would drive her

away from the young man and the little princess but first he had to

ask her if his conclusion was correct. As he turned his head toward

his companion to ask the question, his cellphone buzzed.

Taking it out of his vest pocket, the brown-haired agent asked,

"Mulder here."

"This is the Chicago Police Department calling to inform you that a

warrant has been issued for your arrest on twelve-hundred traffic

violations," the amused voice of Detective Dortmund could be barely

heard over the static.

"Do you think you could wait a while on that warrant," Mulder matched

his friend's humor, "I'm not going to be in the States for a while."

"I'm sure we can make arrangements for your credit card to pay for

them," Don suggested before dropping the pretense, "How you're doing,

Mulder?"

"Better than I thought I would, Don," amusement in Mulder's voice, a

quick glance over showed Ryoko had turned to look at him and he

motioned her with his left hand to listen in. With wordless thanks in

her amber eyes, the ample lady lowered her head next to his before he

continued, "So what did you find on Anthony MacClean?"

"You're lucky my nose is a big Bears fan," Don smirked. "I had to

exchange four of your Redskins' tickets to get the seven I needed for

Becky and her friends."

"I know two of those tickets are going for your own use, so don't

sound like you pulled the wool over your snoop's eyes," Mulder

countered but suspicion entered his last words, "or did your informant

find nothing?"

"Nothing of the sort, Mulder," Ryoko heard how relaxed Don's voice

was, "it's just I don't think you're going to like the results."

"C'mon, you one of the few people I know who can touch base with one

of the top dirt diggers in the country as well as one of the top

bounty hunters, so let's get down to brass tacks," Mulder's ears

redden when he heard Ryoko's giggle.

"Okay, Mr. Fed," Don commented with a smile. "It took some digging but

Becky did find about four years of dope on your friend."

"Just four years?" Mulder's eyebrows went up.

"That's right," Don could barely keep the laughter out of his voice as

he dropped his other bomb, "From 1968 to 1972, your MacClean was known

as a man called Sunshine."

"Sunshine!" Mulder gave Ryoko a hot glare in an attempt to stop her

roaring laughter before he continued, "are you sure?"

"In 1968, a man fitting the photos you've sent was arrested for

participating in the Chicago riots, during the Democratic Convention,"

Don's voice calmed down. "On the rap sheet, he gave his name as

Sunshine and the arresting officer wasn't able to find any ID that

gave his true name."

"So what else has you found out about this 'Sunshine'," Mulder's last

word full of annoyance.

"For the next four years, Sunshine is involved in every left-wing

protest or action in the United States, including the Indian protect

at Alcatraz, before he disappeared," Don stated.

"What did he do within these groups?" questioned Mulder.

"He worked as an organizer," Don answered before his voice gained a

note of respect, "although he did help get several students under

cover when the National Guard went nuts at Kent State."

"But nothing before 1968?" Mulder carefully asked.

"Nothing. But I do have three additional pieces of information," Don's

voice gained a sober tone, "One, Sunshine appeared in Japan, in 1972,

as a promoter for several Rock and Roll concerts before changing his

name to Anthony MacClean. Two, in comparing the two photos you sent me

with the one from the '68 arrest sheet, this man shares the same

fountain-of-youth as Dick Clark. Three, my nose decided to try a

little experiment. So she started to check the names of government

officials that disappeared in 1968, based on the belief that only

someone in the government could make their past disappear."

"That's not completely true," Mulder countered.

"True, some people can buy disappearance but nothing so clean as what

our government can do," Don returned.

"What did your snoop find?" Mulder interest perked.

"Becky can't be sure but she accidently activated a security alert on

one name and she had to make tracks before they were able to find

her," Don replied.

"And the name?" Mulder probed.

"Steven Rodgers," Don told him.

When Mulder heard Ryoko's startled intake of air, he cut short the

conversation by saying, "I've got to get going, Don. Thanks for your

help."

"Hey, come to Chi-town on your next vacation," a friendly tone in

Don's voice, "Becky and her friends would like to meet you and you can

bring your lady friend."

"She's just a friend of mine," Mulder realized Don had heard Ryoko's

laughter over the cellphone.

"Ahhh, I wish I had your luck in finding such 'friends'," Don put

emphasis on the last word.

"Anyway, I'll think about visiting the Windy City, so take care,"

Mulder closed the connection before he turned his pale green eyes on

Ryoko and asked, "You've heard the name before, right?"

Ryoko slowly nodded before answering, "To learn English, Tenchi's

grandfather allowed me to copy a part of his memory. In doing so, his

experiences during your World War Two became a part of me, especially

his captivity in a concentration camp."

"Someone at the camp had the name of Steven Rodgers," Mulder guessed.

"A young US Army captain who was ordered to teach Katsuhito English in

an attempt to squeeze more Japanese secrets from him," then Ryoko

added with warmth in her voice, "in the end, they became friends."

"Hmmm," Ryoko saw a thoughtful look on Mulder's face.

"Do you think it's the same man?" Ryoko cautiously asked.

"It's possible," Mulder slowly replied. "But even if he isn't the

person Katsuhito knew, I would have to say he's a very interesting

man."

"Hmm," Ryoko thought upon Mulder's words before turning her head back

to watch the passing scenery.

Unable to think of anything to continue the discussion, Mulder

returned to his earlier train-of-thought. Knowing he wouldn't get a

straight answer from the cyan-haired woman, the detective decided to

try an exploration of Ryoko's past to gain his answer. With eyes

straight ahead, the agent asked, "Is the boy the first one you've ever

loved?"

Catch off guard by Mulder's question, Ryoko looked back at the

American, for a moment her anxiety kept closed her mouth but then she

remembered how this man had cried in her arms, exposing his wounded

soul to her. With trust replacing fear, the lady in pink replied, "No,

Tenchi wasn't the first one."

Mulder turned his head to face Ryoko when he heard the deep sadness in

the ample lady's acknowledgment, so he carefully prodded, "Do you want

to talk about it?" When Ryoko's amber eyes reflex a need to talk, the

brown-haired man added, "I won't tell anyone."

The apprehension drained from Ryoko's soul and she started, "A hundred

years before my attack on Jurai, that bastard Kagato sent me to

capture a cache of artifacts being transported to a galactic fair on

Pollux Three. It was easy to find the merchant ship with Ryo-ohki and

I quickly breached the hull near the cargo bay. As I teleported to the

opening . . . " Ryoko words continued but her inner eye played the

events before her mind.

Ryoko felt her body appear in the corridor just beyond the life

support containment field over the blackened cavity in the merchant's

hull. In a red-black battlesuit with warpaint upon her face, the uchu

kaizoku scanned the empty hallways with suspicion. Seeing nothing to

impede her course, she floated down the corridor to the cargo bay.

Along the way she would lash out with a narrow beam of red energy to

destroy the cameras monitoring the passageway but her doubts increased

as these actions didn't bring running feet, ringing alarms and

shouting voices. Upon reaching the hatch to her destination, she

produced a three-inch red rod to burn the locking mechanism off it

while staring through the door's window. Still not seeing any

opposition, she pulled the door open with her left hand as she readied

a ball of fiery death with her right. With a quick check of the area

around the entrance showing nothing, she moved to break the hatch's

threshold but her forward progress was stopped by something suddenly

grabbing her collar and a harsh whisper in Juraigo, "Don't go in

there, it's a trap."

With a twisting spin on her right foot, Ryoko pulled out of the grasp

and squeezed the energy ball into a four-foot lightsabre, which she

rested under the chin of the figure before her. It was a man close to

her height, with shaggy blond hair touching his lean shoulders and

gray eyes staring out of a very dark-skinned face. His body was clad

in a one-piece olive green battlesuit with leathery trim strips dipped

in British Crimson, Ryoko's sharp eyes also saw a metallic ball in his

right hand.

With a feral snarl Ryoko asked in the same language, "What do you

mean?"

With a bare nod toward the cargo hatchway, the dark man countered,

"Let me show you, na?"

Although Ryoko's eyes narrowed, the cyan-haired woman gave a slight

wave to the hatchway with the lightsabre. The woman floated to her

right to give the stranger enough room to reach the opening but ready

to behead him at any hint of betrayal. At the entrance, his index

finger released a red button it was holding down while giving the ball

an underhanded toss into the room. Ryoko's arm started a downward blow

when a wave of energy came from the object but she stopped its descent

when the sphere was vaporized by a massive beam of white light

stretching from one side of the cargo bay to the other, a bar of raw

energy large enough to destroy her body.

A deep growl came out of her chest but her anger was cut short when

the man said, "If we hurry, we can still get those artifacts from the

other ship."

"WE?" finding the booby trap wasn't what caused Ryoko to shout, it was

this stranger's willingness to help her.

"Ryoko-san, do you think the crew here are going to be happy when they

find out I've spoiled their little surprise for you," having limited

contact with humans, the uchu kaizoku couldn't tell if he was being

sarcastic or not but then her eyes became hard marbles.

"How do you know my name?" Ryoko lowered her right hand enough so the

man's back neck hair produced a smoldering smell.

"C'mon, the Ryo-ohki, your battlesuit and your cyan hair," Ryoko saw

an unfamiliar look appeared on the green clad man, "there is only one

person you could be and that is Ryoko-san, Caller of Demons."

Still not satisfied with his statement, Ryoko voice gained a dangerous

tone when she asked, "So you know me but what about you?"

"My name's Handover George," the dark-skinned man turned but stopped

when pain came from the blistered skin where the energy blade brushed

the back of his neck. "I'm a small time thief looking for a way to

reach the big time. When I overheard two members of this ship's crew

plotting either to kill you or to capture you, I decided to hitch a

ride with them so I could warn you."

"In return for what?" the dangerous tone was still in Ryoko's voice

but its edge had lessened.

"I want to be your partner, Ryoko-san," Handover felt the hot weapon

lift from his neck, so he turned to face Ryoko as he continued, "I

know my skills can be very helpful in your capers while your

reputation will give me the status I want."

For a few minutes, Ryoko stared at the young man for she was unable to

make up her mind. She could understand his greed for fame but she had

never worked anyone before. After another set of minutes passed

Handover sighed, "If we don't hurry, the other ship will get away."

Insulted by Handover's reminder, Ryoko bristled at him, "Catch me then

you can come." The last word echoed in air as her body faded from

sight.

Back at the hole, Ryoko reappeared with a smirk upon her face as her

ears detect not one footfall coming her way but when she turned to

teleport back to Ryo-ohki, "Ara?" escaped her lips. Two smoky eyes, a

hand dropped on each of her firm shoulders and a mirthful voice from

smiling lips filled her ears, "Does this mean I can bell you too?"

Hearing the tease, Ryoko's readied a heated retort but then a cold

voice entered her mind, 'Ryoko, let him prove himself.'

'Hai, Kagato-tono,' Ryoko passively replied in her mind, knowing her

master's voice ruled her will. Reaching up the cyan-woman's hands took

hold of Handover by the shoulders and she told the man as they

teleported to Ryo-ohki's bridge, "Big dogs kill pups all the time, I

need proof you're a big dog."

"Can you give me a list of the artifacts we need to get?" wonder in

Handover's question over Ryo-ohki's floating crystals but his awe

cooled some when he saw the cold glare Ryoko gave him over his use of

'we' in his request. With barely checked impulse to toss the man out

of her ship, Ryoko left him to glide through the air to the ship's

controls.

"Hai I can but first tell me where the other ship is?" Ryoko replied

over her right shoulder as she dropped into the command chair.

"As easy as dancing upon a comet's tail," confidence in the dark-

skinned man words as he came up behind the chair, leaned over the

chair's back and then continued, "Call up a star chart covering this

parsec."

Ryoko punched the necessary buttons to produce a small screen a few

inches before them but the 3-D map didn't catch her attention, it was

Handover's face. This was the first time she really looked at his face

and noted there was something wrong about his color fitting his

features. The uchu kaizoku had seen many people of many shades and

different skin textures but this man's dermis looked burnt.

"He should be here by the time we reach him," Handover pointed at an

area near a white dwarf star. Again Ryoko noted how leathery the black

skin was on the man's hand.

'Ryo-ohki, go to Thorin Alpha, coordinates 0564-0054,' Ryoko commanded

through her link.

Ten minutes passed before Ryoko saw Handover relaxed. 'He probably

thought I'd toss him out of an airlock as soon as he'd told me the

ship's location,' an evil thought crossed her mind, 'would've or at

least drop him off on some backwater planet,' her gleam disappeared

into icy foreboding, 'but Kagato-tono has shown an interest in him.'

As these words consumed her mind, the man sat, cross-legged, upon the

ship's cool surface, placed his hands upon his knees and closed his

eyes. Ryoko quickly identified the form as an ancient Jurain

meditation ritual usually practiced by the oldest members of that

planet's noble houses. "Oi, so you're a Jurain noble or maybe an otaku

of Juraijin," the ample lady stated out loud.

"A long time ago," Ryoko heard something catch in his voice, was it

sadness?

"You don't look that old, Ki-chan (Sapling)," Ryoko used her favorite

Jurain insults. "And where your space log?"

"They took my ship and tree away from me when I became a thief," calm

returned to Handover's voice.

"I thought a Jurain is bonded to their tree for life," Ryoko countered

with some suspicion.

"All things can be broken," that emotion was in the dark man's voice

again, "even a goddess' oath."

Ryoko scrutinized Handover's statement and the emotions within it

before she asked, "but aren't all Jurains descended from uchu

kaizokus?"

"Hai, but they don't steal from one another," calm again returned to

Handover's voice. "I did."

Being a member of the Kazoku Guild, Ryoko knew there were things you

didn't do and one of them was getting caught stealing from another

uchu kaizoku. Ryoko shrugged her shoulders at Handover's luck, then

commanded Ryo-ohki through the mental link, 'produce the list of

artifacts Kagato-tono wants from the ship.' In seconds the list

appeared in Ryoko's lap, where she picked it up with her left hand and

dropped the plastic paper in front of Handover. As the man broke from

his meditation to picked it up, a question formed in Ryoko's mind and

she asked, "How did you get to the hall breach at the same time as I

did and without me detecting you?"

As Handover read the list, he replied, "For the first part of your

question: I took a short cut and as to the second part: I'm not called

Handover for my looks."

"So Handover is an earned name?" Ryoko probed.

"Hai, it was given to me by some planetary thief's guild where I was

exiled to," Handover paused for a few seconds before he looked up at

Ryoko with a confident grin on his face, "can I make a suggestion?"

"Nani?" Ryoko returned.

Handover's right hand reached underneath his battlesuit to pull out a

three-inch-by-three-inch piece of yellow cloth with a small round blue

metallic seal on it. Carefully pulling at each of the corners with his

dark hands, Handover caused the little patch to increase in size until

it was a seven-foot-by-three-foot bag with pull-string opening. Ryoko

had seen such an item before and said, "a subspace container."

Handover nodded his head and added as he pointed at the blue disc,

"with a transponder attached."

"You want to use it to get the loot?" Ryoko could see where this was

going and she liked the idea.

"Once we catch up with the transport have Ryo-ohki teleport me to the

cargo bay after its defensive force shield has been taken down,"

Handover gray eyes glow with excitement, "the artifacts are small

enough for me to put them in the bag and the transponder will allow

your ship to bring us both back."

"And I'll keep the crew busy with the Ryo-ohki," Ryoko chuckled at

beauty of the plan. "They won't expect such an attack because of my

reputation for working alone."

"So we do it, na?" Handover put emphasis on the word, 'we'.

Ryoko hesitated for a second before she answered, "'We' do it."

Three hours passed while Ryo-ohki sped to the target while Handover

continued his meditation while Ryoko took a catnap. In the soft light

of the white dwarf, the catlike meow of Ryo-ohki's alert awoke the

two. As the dark youth got to his feet, Ryoko asked him, "Do you have

a communication device?"

"Ee, right here," Handover showed a silvery button on his crimson

lapel.

When Ryo-ohki's passive sensors pick up the transport, Handover asked,

"We going to need some call signs for this operation."

"Call signs?" Ryoko was confused by the term.

"So we can communicate without giving away our identities," Handover

couldn't keep from being amused by Ryoko's bafflement.

"Do we really need them?" Ryoko's tone showed she didn't like either

the blonde's mirth or the necessity for such arrangements.

"If our plan turns into a soap bubble, we might need to makeup

something quick," Handover's gray eyes locked with Ryoko's amber orbs,

"and it would help if the crew doesn't know who we are so they can't

predict our moves."

Ryoko understood the logic behind Handover's suggestion yet it was his

gray gaze that won her over. 'Why does he look at me like that?' her

own thoughts filled her mind. 'I've seen it before but I can't

remember where.' Shaking her head to clear her mind, the cyan-haired

woman said with an ugly grin, "Oke, since you want this, I think your

call sign should be Ki-chan."

Ryoko was surprised her insult produced a toothy grin from Handover,

who added, "and I think your call sign should be Neko-onna."

Ryoko's ears went back at how easy her barb was turned upon her by

Handover but she barely restrained herself from knocking his white

teeth down his throat. "Juncho desu! (Fine!)," a volcanic rage in her

words as she yanked her sight from him to Ryo-ohki's star chart.

Handover turned to watch the star chart but not before giving a

lingering look upon Ryoko's long legs accented by her red spandex, a

look Ryoko caught from the corner of her eye.

Ryo-ohki dropped out of maximum speed to launch its first energy blast

at the transport. Already warned of the attack upon the decoy, the

ship's shields absorbed the first volley while firing its own plasma

cannon. Ryo-ohki dodged the returning fire and quickly cut the

distance to minimum range before sending her second attack at the ship

then rocketed back out before the transport's next attack could fire,

Ryo-ohki's second blow reduced the ship's shield to forty-percent. As

Ryo-ohki prepared for her next run, the ship's third firing scored a

hit on one of the battleship's black spikes but the damage quickly

healed.

"Are you ready?" Ryo-ohki's readout showed Ryoko the opponent's

shields were ready to collapse.

"Locked and loaded," Handover replied, Ryoko didn't recognize the

saying but she could hear the confidence in his voice.

Before the transport could fire its fourth volley, Ryo-ohki charged in

and fired two quick bolts at point blank range. The first bolt took

down the ship's shield while the second hit the engine room. As the

black battleship pulled away a teleport beam shot out from it and

touched the disabled ship's hull.

Ryoko waited impatiently for Handover's call, she wanted the thrill of

the hunt and didn't like having nothing to do. Then a voice crackled

into existence, "Beam-up, Neko-onna."

"Hai, Ki-chan," Ryoko answered back but then mentally commanded Ryo-

ohki, 'Teleport only the subspace container.' As the full bag appeared

before her feet, Ryoko muttered, "It's better this way, you wouldn't

like working for Kagato-tono."

Getting up from the chair, Ryoko picked up the bag and with nimble

fingers untied the knot, loosen the strings and reached into the bag

with her right hand. The first thing her touch felt was hair, shaggy

hair. Grabbing a handful, the wide-eyed lady yanked up and out pops

Handover's body. Dropping the man, Ryoko stood over him shouting,

"BAKA! Subspace containers have limited atmosphere and I don't know

how much life support your battlesuit has. What if I didn't open it

until I'd reached my employer's ship, you'll be DEAD by then!"

"I . . . was . . . depended . . . on your . . . curiosity," Handover

replied while getting oxygen into his lungs, "besides I knew there was

a chance you would leave me onboard the other ship."

"But why me!" Ryoko unable to understand his fixation of her, "of all

the uchu kaizokus in the universe, who would make much better partners

than me, why did you pick me?"

After a short tense moment, Handover stood up, reached into the bag

with his right hand and fished out a six-inch mirror surrounded by

three gold figures, whose hands held it in a loving embrace. With the

surface showing Ryoko's face, Handover kindly said, "None are as kirei

na as you, my Neko-onna."

Ryoko's right hand lightly touched her cheeks, drafted down her sharp

chinbone before stopping at its point while her astonished eyes never

left the reflection. A thousand years had passed since someone said

those words in earnest to her but they turned to ashes when she became

the akurei no hakai. Finally she turned her gaze from the mirror to

look at the man but found a paled face. "What's wrong?" Ryoko was

surprised by the concern in her own voice.

Handover quickly smiled as he replied, "Just noticing how the color of

the mirror's frame matched your lovely eyes."

Suddenly Ryoko felt an emotion new to her, fear. 'Doesn't he know I'm

a machine? What kind of man would want me, an uchu kaizoku controlled

by another.' Ryoko opened her mouth to give life to those words when

another will closed it. 'He has passed the test. He will stay,'

Kagato's icy words brought obeisance to her.

'Hai, Kagato-tono,' her acknowledgment heard only by her master.

"Now it's my turn to ask what's wrong," these words brought her back

to the dark youth with eyes full of worry.

With lightning movement, her right hand snatched the mirror from the

startled Handover and put back into the bag while her furious words

flowed from her lips, "Ii ne! You can stay but get one thing straight,

Ki-chan! I'm the one who decides things here! UNDERSTOOD!"

"Hai, they're no scales covering my eyes, my Neko-onna," Handover's

back going ramrod stiff.

Ryoko's face went from annoyed anger to confused curiosity as she

asked, "What is a Neko-onna anyway?"

"A female animal of grace, power and sensuality," a dictionary's tone

in Handover's words.

"Dewa, if you once, just one time get out of line, I'll sharpen my

claws on your BARK!" Ryoko shouted over her shoulder as she spun on

her left heel and flew through the air to place the bag with the rest

of this trip's loot.

"Hai, Ryoko-san," Ryoko was sure she could hear a smile in those words

but she continued to her destination.

The memory faded as she heard her own voice say to Mulder, "George was

something I never expected to find back in my life after so many

centuries and he changed me so much. He taught me to use my brain

instead of just muscle, use a lockpick, wear a disguise and move on

stealthy feet to finish our jobs," then delight entered Ryoko's voice,

"I loved it, he made it so much fun to leave alive everyone while they

gawk at our exploits."

Again her words faded back as another remembrance came to the fore.

Two voices of baritone and soprano laughter echoed in Ryo-ohki as one

body wove on light feet while another floated next to it as they

walked down the hall to the battleship's control room. The first voice

to go beyond chuckles was Ryoko's, "I think that poor guard was going

to faint when you kissed her."

"I had to . . . find someway . . . to keep her mouth occupied . . .

while you stuck her in the neck . . . with the needle," Handover's

words tumbled out between bursts of joy as his soft black boots moved

along noiselessly.

"I just wish we found out sooner about them moving the stuff to Mordor

Prime," an amused smile on Ryoko's face, she had already changed from

her battlesuit to a clingy one piece blue suit with her upper chest

exposed along with a number of randomly placed transparences showing

her perfect skin.

"Dewa it worked here, so it should work there," Handover's words full

of light confidence.

"And have you known as 'The Kissing Bandit'," Ryoko countered

playfully. "We'll have females lining up to get a pucker from you at

every heist along with the Ginga Keisatsu."

"Ara, another hobby cut short," Handover gave Ryoko a smile as his

right hand reached into the breast pocket of the black thief outfit to

bring out an oblong jewel box as his words continued, "but it wasn't a

total loss, I found this for you, my Neko-onna."

Ryoko had long since stopped trying to correct Handover whenever he

called her by that nickname, instead she took it as a sign of his

loyalty to her but now her attention was drawn to the container he

offered her and breathy words parted from her lips when her feet

touched the floor, "Oi, kore wa nan desu ka? (Oh, What's this?)"

"Open it," happiness in Handover's voice and eyes.

Ryoko's heart was in her throat as her hands gingerly took the white

velvet box from Handover's hand and pushed the lock open with her left

hand. 'No one has ever given me anything before,' Ryoko's soundless

words told her how she considered Ryo-ohki as something she didn't own

but as a silent friend caught in Kagato's web. 

Tipping the lid up with her left hand, a surprised inhale filled

Ryoko's lungs because before her wide eyes are twenty pink pearls held

captive by fine platinum wires with a tiny amber bell in the middle.

With her hand gliding over each gift from the ocean's bounty, her ears

barely heard Handover's words, "By the completion of a planet's circle

around its sun, the coming and going of seasons and holidays, it was

on this day a nameless thief met a legendary uchu kaizoku."

Ryoko looked up into Handover's smoky eyes as her overjoyed look

passed unspoken words to Handover. With a happy smile due to the

present acceptance, the man's black hands pick up the necklace,

unhooked the catch and took purposeful steps to stand behind the

dazzled lady. Again her breath caught when the cool metal touched and

moved over the top of her exposed chest only to be released when her

neck hairs felt Handover's skillful fingers close the catch. A feeling

in her cleavage brought her vision to where the little yellow bell

came to rest. A set of slender digits came into view and by flicking

the tiny craving, produced a glassy tinkle. "It even has a clapper,"

Handover's words flowed from lips just inches from Ryoko's right ear.

"It looks like you finally bell me," over the months Ryoko had pieced

together just how provocative Handover's question had been.

"Only when I won your trust did you accept it," Handover corrected

Ryoko.

"Mo, I found someone to trust," Ryoko countered with barely audible

words as she turned to face him and her gaze locked on his.

For minutes the only communication between the two came from the eyes

but that line broke when Handover looked away. "It's late, Ryoko-san

and we'll need our sleep so our minds will be sharp in the morning,"

Ryoko confusion over Handover's action increased when she heard the

regret in his voice, "Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi, George-san," Ryoko's words fell from her lips like fall

leaves from a tree and they continued in her mind, 'Is he the one?'

Her eyes stared at the amber craving cradled between her breasts. 'Or

is he like the rest?' Her eyes continued to stare vacantly as her mind

was filled by all of Handover's words and deeds. 'He's no shooting

star but is it enough.' Ryoko faded out only to appear in Ryo-ohki's

command chair. It was here she would catch her catnaps or watch the

stars the battleship would pass by, waiting for Handover to come out

of his room. His room was constructed to give him some privacy but now

its entrance only functioned as a magnet for the uchu kaizoku's hopes.

Then an idea surfaced, 'Maybe he wants me to take him as an uchu

kaizoku would?' Suddenly everything clicked, the way Handover talked

and acted around her, 'unlike the others, he wants me to make the

final move, to claim him as mine.'

Resolve filled Ryoko's mind as she faded from the chair to appear two

feet above Handover's bed. Looking down, Ryoko froze when she saw the

man's naked body in a slumber. Handover would always appear after his

sleep fully dressed so this was the first time she saw how his black

skin covered a well-portioned body with a white field of body hair. As

Ryoko slowly moved in a headfirst decent, the figure below her rolled

onto his back while a bluish flare from the uchu kaizoku's Gem caused

her dress to dissolve into nude beauty. Ryoko paused just inches above

the sleeper to think over her options before she closed the space

between them and pressed her white lips against his black lips.

Bafflement entered Ryoko's mind when she didn't feel Handover waken

and return her kiss. 'Ara, maybe this only works on oujosama.' A

movement caught by her eye and caused her to look down between her

melon-sized breasts where she found her kiss did bring a raise out of

him. 'Playing hard to get ne,' the tips of her fangs framed an amused

grin before she drifted down enough so the tips of her brown nipples

lightly rubbed over his darker pair. Seeing them as hard as his stiff

manhood, Ryoko lowered herself fully onto him and kissed him again.

With her ample breasts flatten against his chest and the inside of her

thigh brushing his flagpole, a little voice came from Handover's

muffled lips, "I surrender."

Ryoko's lips part from Handover's then with a grin she asked,

"Everything?"

"I gladly give my family jewels to you, my Neko-onna," this time it

was Handover's blond head closing the distance as his right hand

reached the back of Ryoko's head, into her silky, spiky hair. His lips

completely engulf hers while his left hand glided up underneath her

right arm to stroke her spin from the base of her neck down to her

tailbone.

As the two pairs of roses kissed, Ryoko's hands buried themselves in

Handover's mane while his hands fondled a nipple here, brush through

cyan pubic hair there and squeezed a rock hard ass. But Ryoko's eyes

filled with anger for her skin gave no pleasurable sensation to her,

she gained no taste of passion from his kisses and no sexual stimuli

came from her vagina.

"Iie," distress shook Ryoko's head as her words gained volume, "Iie!

Iie! IIIIEEEEEE!" With strength born from despair Ryoko ripped away

from Handover's embrace, stumbled from his bed and collapsed in one of

the room's corner, her cyan hair cloaked her bowed head. When a hand

took hold of her left shoulder, she shouted, "Leave me ALONE!"

"Doka gai ka? (What's wrong?)," concern echoed in Handover's tone.

Ryoko jerked her shoulder from his hold as she turned her head to him

with eyes blazing while misery filled her words, "Don't you

UNDERSTAND? Couldn't you feel IT?" Handover saw her Gems come to life

as a three-inch blade appeared in her right hand as she continued, "Do

I have to draw a picture for YOU?" As the uchu kaizoku held up her

left hand just above her head, she sliced off its fingers with a

backward swing of her blade as the naked man quickly ducked to avoid

the cut. "Now do you UNDERSTAND? I'm not a HUMAN BEING! I'm a MACHINE!

An ANDROID!"

Handover grabbed her left palm with his own left as he knelt behind

her bent form, watched as brownish substance move out of her hand to

regenerate the lost digits while her words full of self-loathing

shouted in his ears, "My emotions aren't REAL! My PERSONALITY doesn't

come from my BODY! They're SHADOWS planted in me by my CREATOR," venom

filled the last words, "to AMUSE him!"

When Ryoko's fingers were complete, she stared at them with heartache

in her words, "Do you know how a machine feels pain? It's not like how

you would biological creature would feel it but according to its

creator," Ryoko's heartbreaking words gained a hard edge, "How would

you like it if your maker made it so you would find delight from only

hurting others, would you like your wires as cross-up inside as mine?"

Then her voice dropped to a low mumble as a comforting arm went around

her back, "I can't even cry."

As Ryoko's head dropped to hide in the corner's darkness, Handover

moved her hand to his arm then placed his left hand before her

downcast eyes as he said, "Ryoko-san, watch." In seconds his fingers

gained a grayish glow, then tiny, gray balls of Saint Elmo's Fire

danced from tip to tip. With wonder Ryoko looked up into her partner's

eyes only to gasp as she saw the same energy had drowned out his

irises. "I can give you the sensations you crave, I can make your body

and feelings one."

"Who are you?" through her Gems, Ryoko could sense the power coursing

in the body next to her.

"Handover George is my true name," a small smile graced his lips.

"But you're more than an ambitious thief," Ryoko's awe faded back to

her anguish.

"I'm your partner, your friend and your lover," the certainty in

Handover's words gave way to pleading, "Please, let me give you your

fondest wish."

Again Ryoko realized Handover was letting her to decide to trust him

or not to trust him but she knew there wasn't any choice here, she

wanted it too much. "Hai," a nod accompanied her answer.

With a fluid motion Handover's left hand lightly pressed his fingers

to Ryoko's forehead. The nude female went rigid in her lover's embrace

before going slack as his soundless voice entered her mind, 'What I

give you can cause its own form of pain and sorrow along with the

pleasure and joy you seek.'

'I know,' conviction in Ryoko's reply.

'So you still want them?' Handover asked one more time.

'I want a kokoro, I want a ki,' Ryoko answered truthfully.

'But why should I allow it?' a cold voice asked, one that Ryoko knew

too well.

'I assume you are Ryoko's creator?' Handover asked.

'I am Kagato and you have not answered my question,' a harshness in

the voice's tone.

'Because Ryoko psychological state could destroy her body,' Handover

answered.

'If it were to occur, erasing her personality is a likely solution,

just as it was before,' the voice spoke with a detached tone.

'But it is not a true correction,' Handover coolly countered.

'Fragments of her personality would still be there and could end your

creation's service to you prematurely.'

'And this upgrade of her psychological pattern will stabilize her?'

the voice asked after a short pause.

'Plus an additional bonus,' Handover added.

'Oi,' the voice puzzled.

'It will amuse you, Kagato-tono,' Handover revealed.

An icy chuckle vibrated in Ryoko's mind before fading away with

parting words, 'I will be watching.'

'Are you ready, my Neko-onna?' Handover asked in a loving tone.

'I'm ready, my Ki-chan,' Ryoko returned in the same fashion.

Then a blaze of gray energy hit every cell within Ryoko's mind as her

body went into spasms. Ryoko felt the three Gems sent a thread of

contact to the invading force but instead of fighting it, they

accepted it. Her skin started to prickle as the neutral energy flowed

across it to reach every spot of sensual arousal and then the pleasure

came. At first it was the hardening of her nipples, next the dance of

touches along her awakened skin, the hot sensation of phantom lips

upon her fingers, toes and mouth. With each erogenous spot brought to

life Ryoko moaned in rapture, her skin glistened with sweat as her

spasms took on a rocking motion. Finally her G-spot connection brought

panting breaths from her lips as the living energy flowed over it,

passing through her cyan pubic hair, firing her vulva as it passed her

maidenhead to reach the depths of her sexual being. This final

awakening brought a shout from Ryoko's lips as her body arched and a

flow of sexual juices issued from her vagina, her barely conscious

body fell back into Handover's loving embrace.

When her breathing slowed to normal, Ryoko opened her eyes to find her

body cradled in Handover's arms, just like a sleeping baby. With a

smile he asked, "So how was your first orgasm?"

"Wonderful," Ryoko's words full of ecstasy, "Domo arigato."

"Do itashimashite, my Neko-onna," the words barely made it from

Handover's lips as his head bent down and when their lips met, Ryoko's

embers flamed anew. 

Again the memory gave way to Ryoko's happy words, "For four years the

akurei no hakai was gone instead the people talked about two new uchu

kaizokus, Futatsu Kaga (Two Shadows). But the jobs we did for Kagato

were a fun diversion to those days where it was just Handover and I.

Days where we would lay upon green grass to watch waterfalls, dusk

where rosy clouds matched our thoughts, nights where the cool stars

were all the light we needed and dawn's virgin light showed two bodies

joined as one. He taught me everything I know about love, about the

games used to keep it fresh and the little things that allow each of

us to discover something new about the other, he even showed I could

find pleasure from touching my own body and from another female's

body."

"But something happened?" Ryoko heard Mulder's sympathy in his

question.

Pain crowded into Ryoko's words as the next memory dominated her mind.

Before her amber eyes she saw the vast expanse of metal and Plexiglas

as Handover's and her body appeared on the teleportation platform. She

liked the pale green kimono with clouds of white blossoms all over it

that covered her body as well as the little paper fan in her hands,

the one with a morning sun showing snow upon a distant mountain and a

lazy river at its base. Handover reached the steps first and offered

her his right hand, which she accepted with a modest blush on her

face. She found Handover's plain dark blue kimono with his red mon on

his left breast didn't do justice for her lover's figure.

A young man in a black security uniform came forward from one side and

all three gave a short bow as he said, "Welcome to the Andromeda

Archive. May I have your identification cards?"

Both gave ID cards that showed Handover and Ryoko as Hakubi Ujiie

Jurai and Hakubi Oryo Jurai. Ryoko found Hakubi a familiar name so she

asked Handover about it before they left the Ryo-ohki to come to the

installation by commercial spaceliner. He replied with a grin, "It's a

little joke between me and someone I know, whose name you might have

heard on the news."

Ryoko knew better to push for something beyond Handover's vague answer

because it would only lead to a knowing smile and a loving kiss. Over

the half-of-decade of companionship Ryoko tried to judge exactly what

Handover was. He was more than a small time thief she was certain of

that but every time Ryoko thought she had the answer he would do

something that turned her judgement into dust and she would examine

her clues again. But even with his normal happy tune, Ryoko could tell

Handover was uneasy over this latest job for Kagato. She knew Handover

was aware of Kagato's control over her and that anything they did

together was only allowed by her master's tolerance but when they were

together, she would sometimes find Handover staring up at the passing

stars with concerned gray eyes. When he saw her looking at him, the

gentle smile would return and he would pull her into his love. Yet

after their lovemaking she remembered his look, he feared this job.

As the green-haired man came back from checking their ID at the white

terminal Handover's right hand wrapped around Ryoko's left and lightly

squeezed it but her soul froze by the thoughts coming over the fleshy

contact, 'They're spotted us.'

Ryoko glanced around and noted the loss of rainbow colors in the

people in the huge hall and the plastic smile on the returning man

whose left hand held their ID cards but the right one was behind his

back. With a rumbling growl Ryoko right fist lashed out when the man

was in reach, blood flew into the air as the man dropped to the

ground, his nose flat against his face and a gun hitting the floor

next to him. Ryoko heard the metallic pop of gun holsters snaps open,

then the drum of feet as men took cover and a voice came over the

loudspeaker, "YUJI AND TOJI KAGA, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR THE

FOURTEEN ROBBERIES WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE ANDROMEDA POLICE

FORCE AND FOR TEN OUTSTANDING WARRANTS BY THE GALAXY POLICE, THE

ATLANTIAN RANGERS AND THE SPECIAL ICARUS SERVICE."

"So the man we used to make the counterfeit cards was a police

informant," mumbled a resigned Handover in Juraigo, the police using

the names they had given to the counterfeiter.

"He won't enjoy his bounty once I get my hands on his fat neck," Ryoko

snared back in the same language as her clothing changed from the

pastel kimono into her red-black battlesuit then she whispered to

Handover, "I'll attack them while you make your escape."

"That won't be necessary, my Neko-onna," upon hearing Handover's words

Ryoko glanced at him and found the man in his olive green battlesuit

but what caught her eye was something she never seen in his hands

before, weapons. Her partner repeatedly told her to kill for anything

only lessens the possibility of success and makes the hunters' pursuit

hotter but now a four-foot double edge sword was in his right hand

while his left contained a dirk with a three-foot pointed blade, both

pieces of metal gleamed with gray energy.

"This isn't a game anymore, Ki-chan," fear in Ryoko's words.

"I'm not leaving without you," Handover coolly countered.

"They can't hurt me but they could kill you," Ryoko's fear turned to

desperation as she watched black-clad men move to better cover.

"We still need the data Kagato-san wants," Handover returned.

"I can get it on my own," a begging tone edged Ryoko's words.

"YOU HAVE FIFTEEN SECONDS TO SURRENDER," harsh words came over the

archive's loudspeaker system.

"Limited to using only your lightsabre?" Handover shaking his blond

head, reminding Ryoko of the need of capturing the power grille and

the archive intact, something it wouldn't be if she used any of her

energy attacks. "Shear numbers could take you down and what would my

life be without you," love in Handover's words before they took on a

dramatic tone, "Besides, I'm Juraijin. I was born with a scabbard in

my hands."

Ryoko was touched by Handover's stubborn devotion to her and she said,

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Ki-chan."

With a nod of his shaggy head, Handover said, "I'll take the ones on

the right, you take the ones on the left."

"Hai," Ryoko's irises were lost in glowing red as she tapped into her

Gems. "IMA! (Now!)"

Ryoko disappeared only to appear behind the closest group of security

men. Still looking where she had been, her right-to-left swing of the

red lightsabre filled the air with their screams. A quick look in

Handover's direction caused Ryoko's mouth to drop down in awe. Only

the uchu kaizoku's heightened senses allowed her to see the blurred

image of Handover's body reaching his first target and delivered two

precise strikes on a couple of rent-a-cops without breaking his stride

as he moved to his next target, to Ryoko's eyes everyone moved like

snails when compared to her partner's speed. Two hits on her upper

left thigh and her third right rib from laser fire brought a roar from

Ryoko as her Gems healed the damage while she vanished then reappeared

to her opponents' dismay.

Time ceased to exist for Ryoko, only her determination to eliminate

any threat to her goal mattered as her red weapon slashed and impaled

flesh while her left hand would cave in skulls and shatter ribs. Only

once did she teleported next to Handover and what his face revealed

filled her with dread: lifeless orbs of gray energy like those of a

shark's eyes. Afterwards a bit of the old bloodlust washed away

Ryoko's fear and reestablished her goal but this objective was no

longer Kagato's objective, her true aim was to keep these human beings

from getting to the keeper of her heart. Suddenly it happened, her

scanning eyes found no new adversaries and her sharp ears heard not

the high pitch whine of laser fire, not the screech of melting metal

or the popping of bubbling plastic instead she heard maimed men and

women whimper in diverse languages for their mothers. Even with the

facility's air system working clouds of gray smoke and the coppery

smell of blood filled the rooms but it wasn't the aftermath of her

carnage that brought panic to Ryoko's soul, it was the fact she

couldn't see Handover anywhere.

With haste born of terror Ryoko backtracked through halls and

passageways until she found a trail of unmoving bodies, each with same

marks of death: precise lethal cuts in the skull, neck, spine or heart

designed to bring about quick, almost painless demise. But this

artist's skill only became apparent later to Ryoko, now her thoughts

were centered on the owner of the name she was calling out. Finally in

the main computer room Ryoko's sight beheld her seated partner at a

terminal, placing a data crystal into a small, sturdy carrying case.

"Ki-chan! Didn't you hear me calling you?" Ryoko's anger born from

concern.

"I had to complete something before you found me," Handover replied.

Ryoko's eyes narrowed at the vague answer the blond man gave her but

the note of resignation in his voice renewed the apprehension in the

cyan-haired woman. The clink of the box's latch by the dark man pulled

her attention to it and she asked, "Is that the archive's data bank?"

"Hai, including the information Kagato-san was seeking," again Ryoko

heard a heaviness to the gray-eyed man's voice as he got out of the chair with the box in his right hand and turned to face her. Ryoko

floated a foot toward Handover before his new words stopped her cold,

"But he will not get it."

"Nani!" Ryoko's confusion thundered in the word.

"What is contained in this case would give Kagato the key to unlimited

power," the heaviness of Handover's voice gave way to a harsh

certainty, "and such a kaibutsu like him can't be allowed to unlock

that door, he would turn the universe into an abomination!"

"Ki-chan! Why should we worry about what Kagato-tono does to the rest

of the universe?" Ryoko's confusion gave way to fear for she sensed

someone was listening to the heated exchange of words, "As long as he

leaves us alone."

"My Neko-onna, I couldn't exist knowing our joy, our laughter and our

smiles were the only ones in existence," Ryoko saw the pain those

words brought to Handover's eyes and knew they mirrored her own.

As Ryoko's mind had locked in hesitation, her Gems flared blue and her

body crumpled to the ground where jolts of energy coursed through her

mind. Her agonizing scream caused Handover to take a few steps to her

before he pulled up when he saw her face turn to him with eyes of

glowing green. Ryoko's body drifted up as icy words left her lips, "So

you have decided to make your play."

"For what you did to your okasama," Ryoko saw the hardness in

Handover's eyes as she struggled against Kagato's puppet strings, "She

believed you were satisfied with the gifts she gave you."

"She gave my birthright to her flawed creation," solid confidence in

Kagato's words, "for such a crime she got what she deserved and I will

continue to be Ryoko's master until she is of no use to me."

"Your arrogance will be your downfall," venom in Handover's words.

"You dare to speak of arrogance," a cool laugh left his slave's lips.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice you using my okasan's surname?"

"So it was you who told the keisatsu of our coming," Handover sneered.

"I knew my slave would complete the mission even if your body was

lifeless but you are full of surprises," a false wonder entered the

voice, "It would be interesting to dissect you to find out what makes

you tick."

"I think I'll pass on that option," a sarcastic smile on his face as

he nodded at one of terminals where information flashed across the

screen, "Oi, you won't find anything left in the mainframe. I used one

of your okasama's favorite worms to eat the data you seek."

"So you know what I seek?" Kagato asked.

"On the day I met Ryoko-san, I knew what you sought," Handover

answered.

"Nanto? (How?)," genuine surprise in Kagato's one word.

"One of the items retrieved was a hand mirror," a grim grin on

Handover's face, "the glass was held by the Three Goddesses."

"You surmise, I seek specific information on their existence," cold

logic in Kagato's words.

"And the power they weld," Handover added.

"So only the case now contains those secrets," Ryoko saw Handover's

grin became Cheshire Cat's size at Kagato's statement and caused her

to claw even more at her mental bindings as she watched her right hand

reach out toward the case.

Handover pulled the case out of Ryoko's reach while saying with deadly

earnest, "over my dead body."

A wicked grin painted itself on Ryoko's beautiful features as a red

ball of energy appeared in her right hand where it was squeezed into a

two-foot dagger. "My intent anyway since you have proven yourself too

dangerous to live."

Ryoko saw Handover's feet go flat against the floor as she felt her

body start to float to him while raising her weapon above her spiky

head. With a desperate surge she found a sliver of control and

shouted, "NIGERU! (RUN AWAY!)"

"Mo, I cannot," a firmness in Handover's tone

"SOREKARA KOROSU ATASHI! (THEN END MY LIFE!)" Ryoko twisted and pulled

against the still existing restraints while her body stopped just

inches from Handover.

"Mo, I cannot," a sad smile graced Handover's face as Ryoko saw her

reflection in Handover's gray eyes, saw her amber irises surrounded by

a sickly green.

Ryoko's unearthly cry reverberated from the walls as her blade impaled

her lover's heart yet only a little catch of his breath showed

Handover's reaction to the strike. Nothing prepared Ryoko for the

sight of her dearest body sliding off her rod of light as tears wetted

her face. Except for her face the rest of her body showed no emotion

as her right hand picked up the case next to the dead body, then she

teleported to one of the two ships whose arrival next to the facility

went undetected.

Ryoko appeared before Kagato aboard the Shojo. The white-haired man

reached with white gloved hand to remove a tear from Ryoko's face

before giving a false sigh and saying, "To think I allowed Handover-

san to make you even more defective than you were before." After

taking the brown case from her stiff hand and placing it in his coat

pocket, Kagato's face took on a bored look as his left hand removed

the glove from his right and brought the seemly empty sleeve to her

face while saying, "I think I will make you a thoughtless weapon

again, your imperfections will be less discernable." Ryoko heard her

master's words but care not for the sun that lit her world was put out

by her own hand, only the waters of the soul upon her emotionless face

showed her broken spirit. In such a state of mind, Ryoko noticed not

the shock on Kagato's face as his mind crashed against a mental

barrier surrounding his slave's physical mind. Again and again with

increased power each time, the red-eyed man attempted to smash through

only to bounce off with no effect. In frustration he pulled his right

arm back and threw Ryoko to the floor, the impact with the ground

brought a sound of surprise from her lips while Kagato said, "It seems

your 'partner' didn't want his flawed changes to be corrected," foul

sneer on his fair face, "I still control your body and can change its

physical composition through your Gems. Now let us see what your

bounty has brought to me."

With a dramatic flourish Kagato retrieved the case from his pocket

with his left hand, open it and held his unseeing hand over the

colorless pyramids of data. With Kagato no longer in direct control of

her body, Ryoko turned her swollen eyes up over her right shoulder and

this time she saw the shock on the tall man's face which gave way to

rage as he flung the container away while howling, "WORTHLESS! It's

all WORTHLESS!" Yanking back on his glove he stretched out his right

hand and fired a blue wave of power that turned the crystals into gobs

of useless material. "LIMERICKS were all those bits of junk

contained," the anger in his eyes matched his words.

When Ryoko heard Kagato's statement, the bitter irony found a home in

her torn soul, calling forth from her lips a low laugh.

"DAMARE! (BE QUIET!)" Kagato spat out but this only kicked Ryoko's

volume higher. With growing rage he reached through Ryoko's Gems to

shut her up but couldn't penetrate her emotionally choked mind. When

Ryoko felt Kagato's failure, an insane quality entered Ryoko's jeers

that knocked her master into action. The fractured cheekbone from

Kagato's first blow didn't stop the crazed howling nor did the

shattered ribs, the splintered fibula, the dislocated shoulders or the

cracked skull. Finally the pitiful remnant of Ryoko's roar gave way to

renewed crying when her master regained control over her body then

said with a foul smirk, "After you heal enough, you will go back to

the room and search his corpse for the real data crystals. He is the

kind who would protect the knowledge of the ages not obliterate it."

Ryoko fought against Kagato's control as she saw the color drain from

her surroundings as they do when she teleported. She didn't want to

see Handover's dead body again, to see where her master took away the

most precious thing in her life. When the desks, computer terminals

and chairs solidified around her, Ryoko's floating frame collapsed to

the cold floor as Kagato's mind momentary loss contact with her Gems.

Ryoko looked left and right to find the cause of the shock she felt

from her tormentor's mind before astonishment filled her own spirit.

At the spot where her happiness had ended, where she learned to cry,

there was nothing, not even blood.

Quickly before Kagato realized his lapse of control Ryoko tapped into

her Gems to extend her senses and what she found replaced her

astonishment with rejoicing. With sight beyond the visible spectrum

she found every inch of the room, the very air around her, contained

traces of the soft, gray energy Handover used. With a shout of joy

Ryoko allowed the universe to know her happiness even as she felt

Kagato's strings bound her body.

"That monster had me search the whole base looking for Handover but I

didn't find him," Ryoko gave a triumphant grin as her words to Mulder

replaced her memory, "but I knew it was in vain. Handover had

masterfully fooled Kagato and got away with the data crystals."

"I'll bet Kagato was angry," Mulder commented with his own smile upon

his face.

"He beat me while saying how defective I was," Ryoko wouldn't let the

residue of that painful memory break her mood, "how his 'Great Plan'

prevented him from killing me."

"A creature worthy of a one-way trip to Hell," Ryoko heard the anger

in Mulder's voice as he took her shaking hands in his own.

"That was the first day but not last where he would beat me," Ryoko's

eyes as hard as yellow diamonds, "while his words carved up my soul.

How Handover used me, how my 'lover' didn't try to free me, how no one

cared about me."

"You didn't believe him?" Mulder could barely keep from shouting.

"Not . . . at . . . first," a tremble caused her words to falter, "but

the . . . beatings . . . the words . . . the loneliness . . ."

"The demon of destruction was reborn," finality entered Mulder's tone.

"A bloodlust," a loathing tone in Ryoko's words, "born from hate, born

from self-pity, poisoned me to everything good around me. All I wanted

was to find pleasure in robbing the life from living bodies, leaving

nothing but broken dreams in my wake. I even wanted to kill Handover,"

unshed water made Ryoko's orbs glisten, "make him know how forsaken I

felt."

"Until Yosho stopped you here on Earth," Mulder squeezed Ryoko's

hands.

"Even before there were starry nights," a note of happiness returned

to Ryoko's tone as she freed her right hand from Mulder's hold to

reach into a pocket that appeared on her pink vest. With a gentle

lifting of her hand, Ryoko revealed to Mulder's pale green eyes a

necklace of moonlight metal, pink pearls and a yellow-glassed bell

before her words continued, "I would stare at this for uncounted

hours, recalling his laughter, recalling the adventures and recalling

the love."

"A remembrance of lost love, of a lost life," Ryoko heard Mulder's own

sadness and knew his missing sister filled his mind.

Ryoko returned her keepsake to its protective covering as she told her

friend, "while I waited for Tenchi to release me and during those few

days where he, his mother, his father or his grandfather didn't visit

the cave, I would think of Handover, wondering why he didn't try to

save me."

"Maybe he did," Ryoko gave an inquisitive look at Mulder's statement,

"it's possible he hoped the psychological shock of you 'killing' him

would rupture Kagato's control."

"And when it didn't happen, Handover left to spare me from really

killing him," Ryoko finished the theory for Mulder, "as if that was

possible."

"You mean the fact he could survive your deathblow," Mulder added.

"When I would sit in solitude in front of my cave, I would remember in

that last battle how laser fire would pass through his body, how he

could move faster than time itself and how his single step was equal

to the distance between stars."

"Yahweh?" Mulder wondered.

"He made mistakes and he felt pain so I don't think he was your God,"

Ryoko answered thoughtfully, "but he was something close to one."

"Yet not powerful enough to face Kagato without fearing he would end

with your blood on his hands," Mulder concluded, then saw Ryoko's

reaction to his words where he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ryoko hastily replied as she turned her head away from him.

Repeating his words in his mind, Mulder found the last piece of the

puzzle to his cyan-haired friend's behavior. 'Not blood on 'his' hands

but blood on 'hers',' soundless words filled his mind, 'but why now?'

then the revelation hit him, 'MacClean's report of a UFO.' With

careful deliberateness the brown-haired man asked, "Kagato is here."

The startled intake of air, then a slight nod from her spiky head came

as she held up her left hand to show her Gem to Mulder before she

fearfully said, "my Gem gave me a chance against Ayeka but now I'm

bonded to Kagato again."

"You hope Kagato will come for you when you aren't near Tenchi or the

others," Mulder guessed.

"He would have me kill them just to torture me," anger filled Ryoko's

words, "but I'm afraid he's here for Sasami too," then she quickly

added, "and Ayeka."

"Because of the attack on their homeworld?" questioned Mulder.

"I wasn't able to get what he wanted from Jurai so he might see the

princesses as a means to complete his 'Great Plan'," Ryoko could

barely keep her rage in check.

"Is there anything I can do?" a protective tone in Mulder's words.

Ryoko was touched by Mulder's gallantry but replied in a hard tone,

"Compare to Kagato your military power is equal to a flea's fart. I

can only hope he will take me and leave."

"Maybe Ayeka could help you," Mulder pointed out.

"Ayeka is a trained Jurain warrior but her power level and her skill

isn't close to Kagato's," Ryoko countered, "and she still sees in me

the cause of all her suffering, even though Kagato was the mastermind

I was his hand." Mulder noticed the quick reply seemed to cover

something else, like Ryoko was giving him a partial answer.

As Ryoko's head drooped, Mulder heard a mumbled continuous, "I just

hope my Tenchi and Sasami don't forget me."

Mulder opened his mouth but a man interrupted his comforting words as

he pushed by their seats with a plastic-wrapped bicycle in both hands.

The pudgy middle-aged man in a soft blue sweatshirt with Indiana Jones

and the Last Crusade upon his chest stopped in front of the train's

closed doors while he trumped his heavy brown boots against the metal

floor in a rhythm he could only hear through the headphones in his

ears. Mulder, Ryoko and several others around the man were intrigued

by his unlimited joy of life in a country where feelings are hidden in

public, and then a song with English words came from his Nihonjin

lips:

Morningside

The old man died

And no one cried

They simply turned away

And when he died

He left a table made of nails and pride

And with his hands, he carved these words inside

'For my children.'

Morning light

Morning bright

I spent the night

With dreams that make you weep

Morning time

Wash away the sadness from these eyes of mine

For I recall the words an old man signed

'For my children.'

And the legs were shaped with his hands

And the top made of oaken wood

And the children that sat around the table

Touched it with their laughter

Ah, and that was good.

During the second stanza the train slowed to a stop, then the doors

opened and the man left with his words lost in the clatter of shoes

against concrete. "This is our stop too, Ryoko," Mulder said as he got

up. When no response came, the man looked down at the seated figure.

A yellow fire of inspiration brought life to the uchu kaizoku's eyes

as she lowly mumbled, "A remembrance, something to remind my Tenchi

and Sasami when I'm gone."

"Ryoko?" the noise around them had blocked out Ryoko words to Mulder's

ears.

Ryoko's sharp ears heard Mulder calling her, so she hid her rapidly

forming plan in her mind behind a bright smile and said, "Sorry, did

you say something?"

"We're at our stop, Matsumoto," Mulder noted Ryoko's concealment but

decided to leave it alone, she had already told him enough. With a

helpful hand from the American, Ryoko got up and both left the shiny

train.

********** 

Shojo

Seijingi was supposed to be a happy moment for a Jurain child and the

child's parents. It was a ceremony where the child's destiny was

foretold by Tsunami. Before one of his/her parents' bondmates, the

youngster discovered if she would become a bondmate for one of the

goddess' offspring or not. This time four individuals stood within a

Jurain Treeship orbiting the homeworld of the Royal Space Academy, in

front of them was Megamitate-Ki (Goddess' Shield), the bondmate of one

of the four. Joy couldn't find a home in any of their hearts because

no one there wanted this ritual, knowing it could take the little girl

away from redheaded child-woman, who had taken care of her for the

past two years.

"It is time," Kamiki Ushio, the bondmate of Megamitate-Ki, spoke the

words he dreaded to say, knowing they could end his friendship with

the redhead standing to his left. In response to his fearful tone

another woman to his right clasped his right hand with her left and

gave it a comforting squeeze. With his mood lifted a little, he

returned the squeeze to the lady with hair like the darkest night that

he called wife and lover.

Dressed in the uniform of the Royal Academy, Washu looked up at the

tall Jurain with eyes reflecting angry green fire before she could

smother it, placed her small hands on the shoulders of the blue-haired

girl before her and then said confidently, "Go on, Seto-chan."

"I'm afraid, okachan," a trembling voice came from the girl dressed in

her Sunday's best.

Even if she contained none of Washu's blood within her veins, Seto

calling her mother caused a stabbing pain in the childlike woman's

heart but she kept the ache from her voice as she leaned forward and

whispered in Seto's right ear, "We've talked about this before, Seto-

chan. You know all Juraijin shitei must go through this ritual."

"But I don't WANT to!" the tears matched the fright in Seto's voice as

she turned in Washu's hands and grabbed the little scientist's neck

with dainty hands.

Pushing down the words to tell the crying child she didn't have to do

the ceremony, pushing down her own selfish fear, the woman in a

child's body reached up with both hands, broke the embrace and held

the child's hands between them as she calmly said, "Akachan, you are

Juraijin. You share with your people a special obligation to Tsunami-

megami and her offspring. For the power they gave your ancestors and

each generation, they asked in return for bondmates so both groups can

communicate without misunderstanding, without vagueness. Today is your

turn to honor that agreement given long ago."

Seeing the resolution in her adopted mother's eyes, Seto looked to her

left at the two Juraijins with the woman in the white crane-covered

kimono saying to her, "Washu-chan is correct, ojosan. Our traditions,

our status demands a few must bear the burdens of all."

When Seto looked back at Washu, the scientist saw a thimble of courage

in the little one's red eyes and so her left hand held the child's

soft hands while her right took out a purple handkerchief and dried

the girl's pink face. As Washu stood up, Seto slowly turned to face

Megamitate-Ki and took reluctant steps forward, unable to see Washu

drying her own tears on the cloth.

It took only a few steps for Seto to come underneath the tree's canopy

but her swirling emotions made the journey seem longer. When the girl

reached the tree's immense trunk, the child held her hands up, palms

up and spoke the words just as the Jurain woman had taught her, "In

reverence and awe I ask Tsunami-megami, the Tree of the Beginning, to

look into my ki and find my destiny."

At first only the buzz of insects, birdcalls and other sounds of the

ship's ecological inhabitants could be heard but then ceases when a

low hum begins, followed by a spark of light from the base of each

leaf. In a burst the sparks rained down upon Seto, washing away the

child's fear and replacing it with calm understanding. A few seconds

later the light concentrated into a featureless female form with wise

eyes. This starlight figure placed her hands on the girl's cheeks

while she bent down to kiss the little forehead. As soon as the lips

as soft as butterfly's wings left the youngster's head, her form

dissipated.

When the being of light appeared, Washu felt her legs give way to the

weight of sudden sorrow for she knew another loss would join the two

already in her heart.

"Boku gomen nasai, Washu . . . " Ushio began. 

"From this day forth you and Shiina-sama are not welcome in my home,"

Washu interrupted with bitter words, "Furthermore, as chairman of the

Oken Uchu Akademi I'm breaking all ties between this house of learning

and the House of Jurai. From this time forward this institution will

be called the Ginga Akademi."

"You can't mean it!" Ushio asked, his face as white as a ghost as he

turned to face her.

"The Ginga Akademi will follow a neutral course, independent of the

political manipulations Jurai and the other governments have used here

to advance their causes while corrupting and destroying the true

principle of this place of learning, to demolish lies and teach the

truth," Washu's words matched the hardness of her emerald eyes looking

up at the Jurain noble, "Only those thirsting for insight will be

welcomed here." 

Ushio took a half step toward Washu but Shiina's firm right hand on

his right shoulder stopped him. Looking over the same shoulder his

wife shook her head at him while saying, "Leave Washu-dono alone, she

has lost her kazoku because of us."

"Us?" confusion in Ushio's voice.

"Nobles," asserted Shiina.

"Oi," Ushio looked down at the kneeling redhead with new understanding

and watched the blue-haired girl quietly walk up and stand within

Washu's reach.

"Washu-chan," a raw sadness in Seto's address to Washu, "Tsunami-

megami told me I have a special destiny but I have to leave you."

"I understand, Seto-chan," Washu's eyes showed how the understanding

brought her misery.

Waters of heartache clouded Seto's red eyes as she dropped to her own

kneels and threw her small arms around Washu's shaking frame and said,

"I won't forget you, Washu-chan, you will always be my okachan."

"And you will always be my musume, my Hoshi-chan," finished Washu as

her hands met behind her beloved child's back.

Green-clad Shiina pressed herself to Ushio's side as her husband

brought his right arm over her head so he could hug her tenderly

before she said in a low whisper, "We might be Seto-chan's new satooya

but our place in her kokoro will be secondary to Washu-dono."

Ushio nodded his head while his red eyes watched the two hugging

persons before him, both of the little ones not feeling the quick

passage of minutes. In time Seto was the first to pull her wet face

from Washu's spiky hair but there was seriousness in her puffy eyes as

her strong words touched Washu's ears, "Promise me, okachan. Promise

me that you won't stay lonely."

Caught off guard by Seto's statement, "I don't know if I can, akachan.

To have another taken . . ."

"Then create your own kazoku!" comprehension flooded Seto's vision.

"Nani?" the pain of Washu's new loss confused her.

"Hai, create a kazoku that no one can take from you," an excited tone

in Seto's words.

"I don't know . . . " Washu's mind tried to push its way clear of her

anguish.

"Okachan, you're the greatest genius in the universe wa!" Seto

empowered her words with her love for the small scientist, "I know you

can create a kazoku to keep you happy!"

"Maybe . . . " more of Washu's infinite intellect focused on Seto's

inspiration.

"So you will promise me," pleaded the child while taking hold of

Washu's hands, "not to be alone."

"I promise, my Hoshi-chan," those final words echoed in Washu's mind

as the ghosts of her past faded away to again leave her a prisoner

inside the crystal obelisk on board the Soja. The green-eyed female

was listening to Ryoko telling Mulder about Handover but when her

daughter reached the part about plunging her lightsabre into her

former lover's chest, Ryoko's renewed grief triggered Washu's

remembrance of the loss of Seto. 'I can't afford to let myself be

whipsawed by these old memories,' Washu lectured to herself, 'they

will drive me insane and cost me my surviving loved ones.' But she

couldn't keep her great mind from turning to a question Ryoko's eight-

hundred-year-old story brought up. 'Ryoko-chan is right about Handover

George being more than a skilled thief,' Washu logically surmised. 'By

using the gray energy he controlled, the man was able to bend time and

space to his needs.' Washu then looked at the dark man from a

different angle, 'he also used the gray energy to undo what that

ketsu-nuke jan (assless jerk) Kagato-san's did to Ryoko-chan's

physiology and he placed barriers within her physical body so that

kaibutsu musuko of mine couldn't take away her memory or her

humanness.' It was Washu thinking about the gray energy that brought

another thought to her mind, 'When I was eavesdropping on Yosho-sama

and the others at the jinja, a gray aura surrounded the pole he

touched Masaki Sasami Jurai with. Because Handover-dono used gray

energy, a connection could exit between him and that object, possibly

this planet.' The little genius tumbled another bit of information in

her mind before coming to a conclusion, 'From the discussion between

Yosho-sama and Seto-chan, he concluded Sasami-chan's reaction was due

to her being Tsunami-megami's bondmate. This could mean Tsunami-megami

knows something about the gray energy.' From this conclusion the

scientist mentally filled with glee as she lit upon a plan, 'I'm going

to need to remain alert to Tsunami-megami's movement within her Trees.

With that baka breaking his direct link with me, I should be able to

pull this off.'

***********

Masaki Residence

In a state of nudity four females and a cabbit occupied the Masaki

home's washroom, each helping the other. At this moment, Ayeka allowed

a small smile to play across her face as she poured a bucket of water

on her seated sister's head while the little one held a perturbed Ryo-

ohki just far enough so the falling water would wash away the soapsuds

from her gray fur.

"Miya!" exploded from Ryo-ohki's toothy mouth, in the cabbit's own

opinion she really didn't see the need for taking a bath because her

catlike tongue did a great job keeping her clean.

"Kya! That's cold!" the goosebumps the water produced on Sasami's

preteen body matched the shiver in the words she said at the same time

as Ryo-ohki's comment.

"Dewa Sasami, then let us get into furo, ne?" amusement in Ayeka's

gentle voice.

"Oke!" Sasami's enthused words matched Ryo-ohki's agreeing, "Miya!"

Sasami popped off the washroom stool while Ayeka got up properly from

her kneeling position she had been in when washing her sister's back.

Sasami splashed into the furo and sat in the far corner, letting out a

sigh as the hot water took the chill from her skin. With her one foot

in the streaming furo, Ayeka stole a glance at Seto and Mihoshi. She

saw her grandmother wash the mud and dingy water from her godchild's

golden hair, ebony back and long legs while the oldest princess' long

blue hair glittered with clear water.

"Niji-dono, may I wash your back first?" Mihoshi asked as she turned

around, her well-developed breasts bounced at the quick stop.

"Ii wa (Okay)," Seto's reply matched her smile as she remembered the

number of times her and the child Mihoshi washed each other's back at

the youngster's home, sometimes with Kiyone making it a threesome.

As the two women headed for the stool and the washcloths, Ayeka sat

next to Sasami, the little princess playing water games with Ryo-ohki.

Seeing Seto sitting on the stool, squirting liquid soap onto a cloth

from a bottle before handing another cloth and the bottle to Mihoshi,

Ayeka was glad she kept silent her objections when Seto suggested they

take a bath together. The purple-haired princess had taken many a bath

with her sister, her mothers, her grandmother and even with her

brother and father but never with a non-blood member like the Galaxy

Policewoman. What stopped Ayeka's words was how a determined look on

her grandmother's face reminded her of the tall blonde's special

connection to Seto's family. By the play of words and the warm looks

exchanged by the two mature women, Ayeka realized a bond of love bound

them together to a degree rivaling the one between the two Masaki

princesses. While the hot water made her sigh, Ayeka concluded it

would be ill-mannered for her not to accept Mihoshi as a family

member, maybe even as an aunt.

"Oujo-chan, what are you thinking about?" Ayeka's grandmother's calm

use of Ayeka's nickname interrupted the purple-haired princess'

thoughts as Mihoshi vigorously scrubbed Seto's back while her own

washcloth built up the soap's lather upon her mature breasts, flat

stomach and strong legs.

"Ara, just observant about how unfamiliar our family has become since

me and Sasami left Jurai," Ayeka replied honestly.

"I like it," Sasami added as she tossed Ryo-ohki three feet into the

air so the cabbit could do a cannonball into the water in front of the

littlest princess, sending a watery wave onto the happy child and

smiling sister.

"Viva la difference!" seconded an excited Mihoshi in mock French,

which brought confused stares from Ayeka and Seto but a burst of

giggles from Sasami.

When Seto and Mihoshi exchanged positions Ayeka couldn't help feel

some envy for the dark lady's athletic body, a body whose physical

attributes equaled those of Ryoko. Just at that moment Mihoshi looked

up from her hands working the soap into her ebony skin and rosy cheeks

with a shy smile that was her response to the intensity of Ayeka's

stare. Ayeka's eyes widened as she gave short shakes of her head and

Mihoshi responded with a nod and a disappointed sigh. Ayeka relaxed as

she thought, 'I must remember Mihoshi's people, the Seniwajin, are

very sensitive to body language as a prelude to intimate relationship

with either gender,' Ayeka raked her brain as she continued inwardly,

'What did Misaki-okasama say about them?' Ayeka's mother's happy voice

filled her daughter, 'the Seniwajin are touching-feeling people.'

Still rhythmically rubbing Mihoshi's back with a washcloth Seto

allowed herself a small smile over the silent exchange while it was

Sasami's turn to be confused before pouting in her mind, 'Adult stuff

again.'

In a short time Seto and Mihoshi joined Ayeka and Sasami in the furo,

seated at the opposite end with Mihoshi's and Ayeka's legs

interspersed so they wouldn't cramp while Sasami's childish statue

gave Seto's adult statue plenty of room. Only a few minutes passed

before Seto asked, "Ayeka-dono, Sasami-chan, are you ready for the

ceremony ne?"

"Hai, Nobuyuki-otousama got the candles we will need for it,"

responded Sasami first.

Hearing the honorific Sasami used Seto asked, "You like Nobuyuki-san

don't you."

"He treats me like I'm his musume," Sasami joyfully answered.

"Nobuyuki-san opened his home to us without conditions," Ayeka added

with conviction.

"Hai, Nobuyuki-san is even allowing me to sleep in his room," Mihoshi

chimed in.

This brought odd looks from Ayeka and Sasami but Seto added, "I'll be

sharing the room with Himawari while Nobuyuki-san is moving his futon

to his home office."

Ayeka rolled her eyes skyward before something Sasami had said caught

her attention and she asked, "Sasami, how do you know about what is

needed for the ritual?"

"When Ryoko-neechan attacked Jurai I hid in a room near the Hall of

Trees," Sasami brought forth the white lie to cover the knowledge

Tsunami had told her during the two princesses' seven-hundred-year

journey to find Yosho. "The room contained a big picture, several

glass cases, a wooden altar and a desk with many data crystals and a

player on it. The first time I used the player on a data crystal, it

told me the love story of Horosha and Washi. Later on I would go to

the room and listen to other stories and bits of information about

Jurai."

"So the data crystals told you about the ceremony we are doing

tonight," Ayeka's words more a statement than a question.

"Ee," Sasami could tell her sister had accepted her story but then the

littlest princess noticed Seto's eyes showed doubt. Seto also knew

about the memorial room dedicated to Horosha, Saishono Kishi Jurai,

and Masaki Washi Jurai but for the Kamiki princess there was something

too pat about Sasami's answer. Mihoshi found Sasami explanation

believable but she recognized the doubtful look on Seto's face.

"Obasama?" Ayeka asked politely.

"Hai, Oujo-chan," Seto brought her attention to the First Princess of

Jurai.

"I was just wondering how long you are staying with us?" Ayeka

completed her question. At this moment a wet Ryo-ohki hopped out of

the water, onto Sasami's shoulder and then to the top of the little

princess' head.

"Trying to get rid me already ne," Seto teased with a sly grin, "Am I

such an embarrassment?"

"Of course not!" Ayeka countered with some tenseness, "I was hoping

you would stay and take us back to Jurai after I have found Yosho-

oniisama."

Seto remained silent for a moment before replying, "Gomen nasai but

I'm only going to be here long enough to settle Mihoshi-dono in before

continuing my own journey."

Ayeka's letdown was overshadowed by Sasami's curious words, "Can you

tell us where you're going?"

Seto leaned forward while waving the rest to come close before saying

in a harsh whisper to the collected heads, "I'm looking for someone."

"Daze wa," Sasami asked.

"My okasama," Seto warmly replied.

Ayeka was filled with shock that seemed to match her sister's reaction

but Mihoshi only smiled and said, "I hope you can find her."

"I know I will," Seto's words taking on a ring of sorrow.

"I thought you had accepted Shiina-sama as your okasan," Ayeka's words

show her recovery from surprise.

"Honto, I didn't know my biological okasan and I care very much for

Shiina-dono," Seto barely able to keep her own sadness in check, "but

before her there was another with sea green eyes, hair like blazing

fire and a mind no computer could equal. She is the one I seek."

"What happe . . . " Ayeka started to say but stopped when she realized

the answer to her question, "You are Juraijin and she wasn't."

"By the time I was an adult, by the time I was free to go to her, she

was gone," a small tear slid down her right cheek, "kidnapped by an

uchu kaizoku."

"So you joined the Kaizoku Guild to find her," Ayeka guessed while

Sasami's pink eyes welled with tears.

"I now know who took her . . . but I was never able to find him . . .

to free her," Seto's body quaked when her last restraints fell away,

"I hope . . . someone will save her."

With a fluid motion Sasami pushed off the furo's bottom so her short

arms could tightly hug her grandmother's waist as her head rested

against the proud lady's breasts but none saw the painful knowing in

the little one's closed eyes, knowledge of Tsunami's involvement in

this loss. A rough tongue against her chin focused Seto's sight upon

Ryo-ohki for from Sasami's blue hair the cabbit removed grief's waters

from Seto's face. At the same time Mihoshi's right arm reached behind

her godmother's shoulders so her hand could give a comforting squeeze

to Seto's right arm as the blonde's own memories remembered the

stories Seto once told her, of a redheaded scientist and a blue-haired

child. Last but not least Ayeka came to her knees so her hands could

take hold of Seto's left hand, willing to accept the sensations the

touch gave her for she understood her grandmother's loss all too well.

Seto willingly accepted the warmth they gave her but coldness still

filled her soul, 'I don't want to leave them to their doom but it

might be the only way to free Washu-okasama.' To prevent her doubts

from surfacing, Seto brought a beatitude look to her face before

saying, "Domo arigato, your comfort has given me hope," then after

allowing some time for communion she added, "Now let us start

yushoku," the others nodded in response.

Ten minutes later the women left the washroom in their bathrobes where

they were met by Katsuhito in the hallway outside the changing room,

who asked, "How was the bath?"

"Very satisfying," Ayeka replied critically while Ryo-ohki bolted for

the kitchen door where an audible thump brought grins to everyone's

faces before the princess continued, "although it was a little

crowded."

"Maybe the furo can be expanded," Tenchi suggested as he stepped off

the entrance staircase, "I know otousan has been drawing new plans for

additions to the house."

"Especially since the shojos have arrived," Katsuhito deadpanned.

"Jiichan, you're getting as ba . . . " Tenchi's statement is

interrupted by the doorbell. The boy's tone went from annoyance to

pleasure as he said, "That must be the delivery man."

"Delivery man?" a purple-robed Ayeka wondered aloud.

"Hai, Ayeka-san," Tenchi answered as he went over and took with his

left hand the money his grandfather offered him, "I and jiichan

decided that Sasami-chan has done enough work today, so we're offering

everyone a special treat for yushoku."

"Super!" exclaimed the pink-robed Mihoshi in English as she stood next

to the yellow-robed Seto.

"You could've asked me first, Tenchi-niichan," a frown formed in

Sasami's words and on her face as the light blue-robed child stood

next to her sister.

The hurtful look on Sasami's freckled face brought Tenchi to her side

where the boy crouched down so his face was level with her before

replying, "Sasami-chan, you've cooked and cleaned and even practiced

for the Shichi-Go-San today. Please let us show our gratefulness."

With princess regal Sasami announced, "Just this once but next time,

ask me first, ii ne?"

"Ii na, Sasami-chan," Tenchi accepted while his right hand reached up

and tossed Sasami's damp hair which changed the child's frown to a

smile combined with a tinkling giggle.

Tenchi stood up and headed for the door. When he stepped onto the

genkan Seto whispered to the priest standing next to her, "Your mago

greatly cares about Sasami-chan's feelings."

"Tenchi remembers how important an okasan's ai is for a kodomo and he

wants Sasami-chan to know he understands her attempt to act mature,"

Katsuhito's craggy face contained a knowing look, "is meant to hide

our much she's missing her okasamas."

"As do you, ojiisan," Seto teased him as she called her grandson an

honorable old man.

"As do I, Seto-dono," Katsuhito acknowledged, a statement that brought

Mihoshi's sharp ears up but the two Masaki princesses missed it

because they were watching Tenchi open the door.

The view showed to Tenchi was a little unexpected for before the youth

stood his classroom chum, Robert O'Neill, dressed in a yellow slicker

with an eight-year-old boy next to him, who was wearing clear plastic

raingear, both were holding brown warming boxes in their hands.

Recognition of Tenchi caused a loud response from his friend,

"Konbanwa, Shaky's Pizza delivered to your door, piping hot!"

"Robert-kun, so you're doing pizza delivery," a surprise note in

Tenchi's words.

"Hai, it gives me a chance to practice my driving," Robert's brogue

made music from his Nihongo words, "while giving me a chance to make

some change."

"And who is this kodomo with you?" Katsuhito asked as he came next to

his grandson.

"Masaki-sama," Robert and the little one gave a quick bow to the

Shinto priest before Tenchi's friend continued, "this is my ototo

(younger brother), Timothy."

"Isn't it kind of late for him to be out?" the old priest asked,

"Especially since tomorrow is a school day."

"Our uncle is a keisatsukan for the Kurashiki Police and is on the

night shift this month," Robert answered truthfully, knowing the

priest's reputation as a detector of lies, "so Tim-chan is tagging

along with me until my shift ends at eight o'clock."

"Ee," Katsuhito acknowledged the young man's answer.

"Anyway, here are your two pizzas, a Shinto Vegetarian and a Fuji-san

Supreme," Robert tried to gain some control over the situation as both

him and his brother opened the warming boxes and gave Tenchi the two

cardboard boxes in return for the money. It's then Robert noticed his

brother's right hand reaching out like he was still holding the box

and asked in Irish, "What's wrong my bonny brother?"

The young man's imitation of a stature and the question left

unanswered drew Robert, Tenchi and Katsuhito to follow the boy's gaze.

With awe Robert let out a slow whistle when his sapphire eyes saw the

four beautiful females with purple, blue and blond hair come to stand

on the other side of the priest.

"Tenchi-kun, you told me some of your itokos moved in with you and

your otousan but you didn't tell me they looked like angels," Robert

words placed smiles on Mihoshi and Katsuhito faces, a puzzled look on

Seto's face, a suspicious frown on Ayeka's face and a groan from

Tenchi, in the three weeks since Tenchi moved to his new school he had

learned about his Irish friend's wolfish fame.

"So you know about Tenchi's houseguests?" Katsuhito asked as he

produced a handkerchief with his left hand while his right hand

removed his glasses so he could clean them.

"But not their gentle names," Robert added with a friendly smile.

With the same friendliness Seto informed the young man with a touch of

her right hand on each person's shoulder as she identified them, who

in turn gave a formal bow to the two newcomers, "I'm Kamiki Seto,

Tenchi-san's obasan (aunt). This here is Kuramitsu Mihoshi, my

nazukrgo. Before me stands Tenchi's cousins, Masaki Ayeka and Masaki

Sasami." When she reached Sasami's name, the tall lady noted Sasami

didn't bow or act like she even heard her grandmother's words. Seto

bent at the waist, waved her right hand before the little one's pink

eyes and said, "Wake up, Sasami-chan." This last act broke the spell

between the two children with both Timothy's and Sasami's faces

turning bright red before the boy made a gesture with his right hand

then he spun around and fled to the light blue car with the pizza

delivery sign on top, at the same time Sasami spun on her left foot

and ducked behind Ayeka.

Confusion filled both Tenchi's and Ayeka's eyes but just the opposite

could be found on the others' features but this didn't prevent the

black-haired young man from acting. Passing the pizza boxes and their

contents to his grandfather, Tenchi slipped on his geta and then took

hold of Robert's right arm with his left while saying, "Robert-kun,

let me escort you to your car."

Robert gave the others a short bow then said as he stumbled backward

thanks to Tenchi's persistent pull, "Oyasumi, redi, soredewa nochihodo

(Goodnight, ladies, see you later!)!" Robert heard muffed giggles

coming from Seto and Mihoshi while his blue eyes caught a pair of pink

ones peeking from behind the pretty girl in purple. He couldn't read

the old priest's expression but it didn't seem hostile which sparked

his hopes. With a fast turn Robert exchanged arms with Tenchi and at

the same time asked, "Tenchi-kun, why didn't you tell me how kirei the

females of your family were?"

"I thought the shojos at school would be enough for you," Tenchi

growled at his friend.

"Protective aren't we, na?" a wolfish grin appeared on Robert's face

before he continued, "You've only heard about my reputation, Tenchi-

kun. Let me tell you I don't play the field."

"Mo, I just heard you have a new garufurendo each semester," Tenchi

informed his friend.

"It's not my fault your island's shojos have such loose morals,"

Robert countered defensively, "all they want is to be someone's efu

emu (piece of ass) for a few weeks."

"I thought you were still moaning over the loss of your family, na?"

Tenchi tried to change the subject as they neared the parked vehicle.

"What's a transplanted Irishman to do?" Robert retorted as he let go

of Tenchi's arm so he could reach with his right hand the driver's

door handle. "Your drinking age is so high, the only thing I can drown

my sorrow in is the yuki na kirimanjaro (cum of a young vagina)."

"There are no darashinai onna (woman of loose morals) in my kazoku!"

Tenchi shot back at Robert, not liking the language the blond youth

used.

"I hope not!" Robert returned with some of his own heat as he jerked

the car door open, "I don't want to wait until I get out of the

university to start a kazoku! I want a permanent esu efu, one who

would marry me and be an okasan for my ototo!"

Taken aback by Robert's sudden seriousness Tenchi own anger vaporized

into sympathy, "You really miss your kazoku, na?"

"Everyone in my kazoku above the age of twenty died in that

explosion," Robert's own anger subsided into sadness, "the children,

like me and Tim-chan, are shattered amongst our relatives outside of

Northern Ireland."

"You do have your uncle, na?" Tenchi tried to lift his friend's

spirit.

"Honto honto (Very true)," Robert answered as he sat, Timothy barely

noted his brother's entrance before returning his blue gaze to the

house's front entrance while he sat in the shotgun seat. Then Robert

added, "but to be reduced from a kazoku of dozens to three fills my ki

with lonesomeness."

"Dewa . . . you might not find the end of the thread here, Robert-

kun," Tenchi placed his right hand reassuring on his friend's

shoulder, "Ayeka-san has an inazuke, Seto-san is married, Mihoshi-san

is a kei . . . eh . . . career woman and Sasami-chan is too young."

"I wouldn't think of Sasami-chan," the old sly look returned to

Robert's face as he turned his body to his right and started to make

gestures with both hands in front of his brother's face as his words

continued, "Besides I wouldn't want to cut into my ototo's action."

Timothy's face gained a shade of red embarrassment then he brought his

eyes' blue fire on his brother while he made his own hand gestures

which brought a barking laugh, gestures and words from Robert, "Indeed

she would!"

"Nani?" Tenchi said in a baffled tone.

"Gomen, Tenchi-kun," Robert turned back to his brown-eyed friend, "I

forgot you don't know sign language."

"I know a little but you both were going so fast," Tenchi corrected.

"Tim-chan replied that mommy would've washed my mouth out with soap,"

Robert smiled up to Tenchi as he started the vehicle, "Dewa, we better

go before my boss thinks my ototo and me have hijacked the car."

"Sayonara, Robert-kun, Timothy-san," stated Tenchi while making the

gesture for goodbye for Timothy's benefit.

"Sayonara, Tenchi-kun," Robert returned as Timothy gave the same

gesture to Tenchi.

As the car turned to the left and headed up the dirt path, Tenchi

started back to the house, meanwhile as his family awaited his return

they had taken the food to the chabudai. Sasami and Ayeka went into

the kitchen to get some plates and Western style knives and forks that

were kept in a special box in a bottom drawer. With the two young

princesses out of the living room and Tenchi still with his friend,

Seto turned to Katsuhito, saying, "Katsuhito-dono, Mihoshi-dono and I

need your assistance."

"I would be honored to give aid to my kazoku," the old priest returned

as he placed the two boxes on the low table.

"Actually it's Mihoshi-dono who needs your help," Seto clarified.

"As I said before, I would be honored to aid a kazoku member," the

gray-haired man calmly repeated.

"Mihoshi-dono has been given a special assignment and we concluded her

best chance would be to join a national police force like this

country's NZK," Seto explained, her own spirit lifted by her

grandson's acceptance of Mihoshi.

"And Mihoshi-san needs a cover story so her experience as a Galaxy

Police can be taken advantage of without causing wonder about a green

two-year-old knowing so much," Katsuhito finished for them.

"Do you think you can help me?" Mihoshi respectfully asked.

"Hai, I know a couple of people in Beikoku who would be willing to

create a credible cover for you," the man in priestly garb answered

with assurance.

"Awesome!" Mihoshi shouted in English as she jumped into the air with

raised arms, a smiling Seto avoiding the policewoman's outstretched

arms but the shout brought Ayeka and Sasami running into the living

room with Tenchi charging from the hallway. Seeing nothing wrong

Tenchi tried to put the brakes on but found the freshly waxed floor

too slick for his white stocked feet. A sliding wide-eyed young man

passed by the threesome next to the chabudai only to barrel into the

surprised princesses. The dishes flew into the air only to end on top

of Mihoshi's flat palms. Katsuhito and Seto hid their grins behind

their right hands while the giggling Sasami found herself sandwiched

between a groaning Tenchi and Ayeka glaring up at the blond bombshell,

who said, "Gomen, I was just happy we were trying some American pizza,

you don't know how hard it is to find original style foods in the

Ginga Yunion. Everyone has their own ideas about what different Earth

dishes are like . . . "

As Mihoshi continued to give a dissertation on galactic cuisine while

placing the dishes on the low table, the still smiling Seto and

Katsuhito helped the rest to their feet and collected the silverware.

Tenchi's grandfather took his usual spot at the head of the table with

Ayeka and Sasami on his right while Seto and Mihoshi were on his left.

Tenchi dished out the pizza so everyone got a share from each pizza

except his grandfather, who took his portion only from the vegetarian

pizza. With a unison shout of, "Itadakimasu!" Tenchi and Katsuhito

started to eat their food with the four females copying how the two

men used the knife and fork since none of them had used Western style

eating utensils before. Mihoshi squirmed with delight as she ate each

cheesy piece, Ayeka found the yeasty crust quite tasty, Seto noted the

freshness of the sauce and Sasami was very taken with how the herbs

and spices enhanced the food's flavor. To make sure Ryo-ohki wasn't

left out Sasami had brought in a bowl of freshly washed carrots for

the cabbit to happily munch on.

As Ayeka brought a piece to her lips, she remembered a question she

had for Tenchi, "Your friend's ototo made a gesture at Sasami, what

was that about?"

"Robert-kun's ototo was born unable to hear, so he uses sign language

to talk with others," a thread of sadness in Tenchi's answer.

"How terrible!" exclaimed Ayeka.

"According to Robert-kun he was learning to speak but has retreated to

using only his hands to talk with since his ryoshin were killed,"

added Tenchi as he stopped eating, his appetite suddenly gone.

"Naze wa yo?" Ayeka questioned, her own food forgotten.

"Their parents and many of his relatives were killed in a terrorist's

bombing, in Belfast," Tenchi answered with crushing reality, then

continued when he saw the angry confusion on Ayeka's and Mihoshi's

faces, "two fanatic groups have been fighting for political/religious

control in Robert-kun's homeland for centuries and his kazoku was

almost wiped out, only the kodomos survived."

"Was the satsujin hannin (murderer) ever arrested?" Mihoshi's eyes as

hard as sapphires.

"I don't know," Tenchi's reply reflected the sorrow within.

"In a land of hate and fear, the lover of violence will escape

justice," Katsuhito added as he stood up, "I think I'll go up to the

jinja, I have a few things to do before going to bed. Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi, jiichan," Tenchi returned as he tried to banish away his

anguish and the others added their own goodnights to his.

"Let me help you gather the rest of the pizza, so we can have it

later," Mihoshi offered to Sasami."

"Arigato, Mihoshi-neechan," Mihoshi's offer cut down on the swirl of

emotions within Sasami's soul.

With nothing to do, Ayeka again returned to her original question,

"Tenchi-sama, you haven't fully answered my query."

"Dewa . . . I'm not too sure . . ." Tenchi fumbled as he tried to

remember his classroom lessons.

"He said I was kawaii," Sasami told them as she and Mihoshi headed for

the kitchen.

"Sasami-chan, I didn't know you knew sign language," surprise in

Tenchi's tone.

"Oi . . . a program on sign language appeared on your television,"

Sasami quickly covered her mistake, "the onna on the program showed

the basics gestures."

"And one of the basic gestures was for kawaii, ne?" Ayeka asked with

pride over her sister's knowledge.

"Hai!" Sasami replied before turning around and hurried into the

kitchen with a load of dirty dishes in her small arms, along with

Mihoshi and Ryo-ohki at her heels. Both Ayeka and Tenchi smiled with

approval but a knowing look flashed across Seto's face as she wondered

within her mind, 'Sasami-chan answered the first question truthfully

but covered the second question with a white lie. Is there something

special about Timothy-san?'

"Dewa, anyone for television?" Tenchi asked the two remaining

princesses.

**********

Hideyuki Residence, Matsumoto, Nihon

Mulder was the first out of the taxi but held the door open for Ryoko

to get out. The American was glad the driver knew where to go for

Nihonjin addresses still left him bewildered. He was more than

grateful for Ryoko agreeing to come with him because she pointed out

he would need to bring a gift with him after the detective explained

why they were in what is considered Nihon's Highlands, the air

surrounding them filled by the quite falling of mountain snowflakes.

After paying the driver, Mulder turned to face his companion but

stopped dead by what he saw for Ryoko was no longer Ryoko. Instead of

amber and cyan he saw eyes and hair like black onyx with all curves

hidden underneath a white, heavy fur coat. With a Russian style fur

cap to hide her catlike ears, Ryoko smiled at her friend's reaction

before slyly saying, "I just wanted to help you make a good

impression."

"Eh . . . eh . . . you think these Hershey chocolate bars will do as a

gift?" Mulder tried very hard to distract his attention away from a

dream he knew couldn't come true, a dream to again kiss Ryoko's soft

lips.

"With that green wrapping paper, they'll be perfect," Ryoko replied

with confidence, "You don't know how much American candy cost here."

Mulder opened the gate in the tall, brown wooden wall that surrounded

an outer courtyard with the only other entrance he could see was for

the car. The man led the way along well-worn cobblestones to the three

stepped entrance of a fine three-story building, in a style that 

reminded the brown-haired man of the samurai movies he had watched on

Nihonjin television. After the two walked up the steps, Ryoko reached

with her right hand and pulled a loose leather strap running from a

hook into a hole, this produced a ringing bronze bell and the trample

of feet behind the door. It took only seconds for the door to fly open

and present to Mulder and Ryoko a fourteen-year-old girl with bright

black eyes but a head of blond curly hair. Making a quick recovery of

her surprise at seeing foreigners at her doorstep, the girl bowed and

then asked in Nihongo, "Kobanwa, otetsudai shimasho ka (Good evening,

may I help you?)."

Mulder and Ryoko gave the youngster a short bow before Ryoko took the

newspaper ad from Mulder's right hand while saying, "Konbanwa, my

Amerikajin friend here is interested in the room you are advertising

for rent."

"An Amerikajin!" the girl's eyes went wide with eagerness, then she

wiped her head around to face the hall before calling out, "Okachan!

There's someone here to rent the room!"

Unnoticed by Mulder or the girl was Ryoko going pale at the child

calling to her mother. From her past she heard a child-like version of

her own voice calling for her mother. 

"Don't shout, Kiku-chan," a much older female voice came from

somewhere down the hall, "they'll think we have no manners."

"Ryoko-chan, don't put so much Spatha Pepper Sauce on your diebaga,

you won't be able to taste the food," Ryoko heard a preteen voice

admonished her.

"They would come just as we were about to eat yushoku," an elderly

male voice could be barely heard.

"You're wasting your time trying to make a musume out of it,"

complained another voice Ryoko easily realized as Kagato's.

"Ojiisan, that's not a nice thing to say," admonished the woman's

voice. At that moment the owner of the voice opened a slide door and

came into the hallway. Except for the black hair frosted with gray she

looked very much like the girl standing in front of their guests.

Coming down the passageway to the entrance, her eyes brighten when she

saw Mulder and said in heavily accented English, "I saw you at the

funeral, you were Koyama's partner."

"I'm Fox Mulder and you are Noryuri Hideyuki," Ryoko heard guilt in

Mulder's voice.

"Ooohhh, can I speak English too?" the girl identified as Kiku

ardently asked in English.

"You know I don't allow any eigo (English) . . . " the owner of the

male voice joined them before the sight of Mulder and Ryoko changed

his words, "What are these gaijins doing here?"

Pointing at Mulder with her right-hand, Kiku said in Nihongo, "He's

here to rent the room," then she dropped her hand before shifting her

eyes to Ryoko and saying, "I think she's his garufurendo."

"Kiku-chan, its rude to point," her mother admonished in Nihongo.

The child's statement broke the fiber of distant voices so Ryoko could

shake her head to clear her thoughts enough to inform them in English,

"I'm Mulder's translator and friend," it also allowed her to see the

hostility in the old man black eyes.

"The room isn't for rent," said the elder who looked as old as the

surrounding mountains. He turned his back to the group and walked

toward the open doorway.

Holding himself back while Ryoko was translating the old man's words,

words whose meaning he already knew, Mulder quickly handed the gift to

Noryuri then put all his guilt into his words, "Please sir, let me

help your family. I want to make up for the loss of your son."

The old man paused when he heard Mulder's plea but didn't turn around

as he said in English, "Once the cane is trampled down in the field,

it cannot be brought back."

Surprise registered on Kiku's and her mother's face when they heard

their elder's English words but it didn't stop the girl from running

to her grandfather and plead with him in Nihongo, "Onegai shimasu,

jiichan! (Please, grandfather!) He wants to help and it'd be fun to

have him here!"

The sight of his granddaughter's pleading look and the short nod his

daughter-in-law gave him when he looked back at her, brought a pause

to him before he said in English, "150,000 yen a month with payment of

the first two months in advance."

"Three-thousand dollars and they call me a space pi . . . " the touch

of Mulder's right hand on Ryoko's left shoulder stopped her outraged

words.

Ryoko looked back at the American, who said to the small group, "I'll

pay."

"But he's trying to pull a guilt trip on . . . " Ryoko's words are

stopped by Mulder's right index finger upon her lips.

With a firm look in Mulder's face, he said, "It's okay, Ryoko."

"Yaappii!" squealed Kiku in Nihongo as she hugged her grandfather and

kissed him on his baldhead, which brought grins to all.

"Stop acting like an animation character, Kiku-chan," scolded the

embarrassed old man in Nihongo but he used a forgiving tone.

"We were just about to have yus . . . eh . . . dinner, would you care

to join us?" a smiling Noryuri offered in English.

Mulder opened his mouth to decline the offer but with foresight Ryoko

intervened by saying, "We would be honored to break bread with your

family." Ryoko's glare made the American realize the insult he almost

made to the people accepting his offer.

"You can leave your coats in the hallway closet," Noryuri told her

guests as her father-in-law headed for the living room.

"Can I keep my hat on?" Ryoko asked Kiku's mother, "My head is cold."

Noryuri smiled up at Ryoko and replied, "I don't see why not, I know

how cold an old house like this can feel to someone use to the warmth

of modern homes."

"Thanks," Ryoko replied as she removed her coat and placed it in the

closet along side Mulder's brown coat. During this action Mulder

caught a glimpse of the ample lady's glowing gem, so he watched his

friend from the corner of his eye while asking Noryuri, "Which room

will be mine?"

"The top floor has three large rooms," Noryuri's stated with authority

while Kiku stood next to the two, "you will have the one facing the

raising sun." Mulder gave a nod of satisfaction not only for the

answer but also for distracting the mother's and daughter's attention

from what Ryoko was doing. Mulder's pale green eyes perceived the

translucency of the white fur on Ryoko's coat collar and the way the

uchu kaizoku's clothing molded into a Prussian blue pants, an even

lighter blue shirt with red heart-shaped buttons and a Wild West-

styled lace necktie.

"Well, let's get to dinner," Ryoko's words refocused Noryuri's and

Kiku's attention on her then added while licking her lips, "I'm

starved." Mulder barely stopped himself from putting voice to his envy

of Ryoko's lack of taste.

With Kiku in the lead Noryuri guided the newcomers down the hall.

Mulder steeled himself for the traditional meal he was about to

partake. Except for the dinner Sasami had prepared the third day he

was in Nihon, the American had fought a successful campaign of

avoiding Nihonjin food, falling back on his emergency rations of

Hershey bars to get him through. Now his face turned greenish at the

sight of sushi, rice, grilled fish, pickled plums and miso soup on a

chabudai in the living room. It was then Ryoko said hopefully to the

old man in English, "Eh . . . Mr. . . . "

"Ogami Hideyuki," replied the old man uncomfortably in English.

"Mr. Hideyuki, do you have any sake in the house," Ryoko's voice

bubbled.

"Yes," curiosity perked in Ogami's voice.

"Why don't you break it out and we can turn this little get-together

into a real celebration?" even with black eyes Mulder saw the devilish

gleam in Ryoko's.

"Mmm . . . I do feel like a drink," Ogami acknowledged.

"Can I have one too?" Kiku jumped at the opportunity.

"Just one and watered down," the older woman told her with mild

disapproval.

"Ah . . . mom!" the tall girl complained.

"Be happy I'm allowing you to drink some sake," the mother sternly

told her daughter, "my mother would have punished me for asking such a

thing at your age."

"Well . . . at least I can speak English in the house now," Kiku

changed the subject.

"Only when the American is in the house," Ogami corrected his

grandchild with a raised right index finger, "Any other time the non-

English rule will be enforced."

"But Grandpa that's . . . " Kiku cried.

"No buts' young lady," hard love in her grandfather's voice, "in this

house you will obey your elders."

"Yes, Grandfather," Kiku sadly relented but her pout gave way to

joyful anticipation when she heard her grandfather say, "I will get

the sake, then we can sit to my daughter-in-law's fine meal."

"Wonderful," Mulder felt the sharp edge of Ryoko's elbow in his ribs,

which caused him to add, "Such a beautiful hostess couldn't cook

anything bad."

Noryuri visibly blushed at Mulder's overreaction and she said in a

small voice, "Thank you."

This exchange brought a pair of Cheshire Cat's grins to Ryoko's and

Kiku's faces and more discomfort to Mulder.

**********

Masaki Residence

Ayeka had wondered why her grandmother told her and Sasami to stay in

their bathrobes while eating dinner but now it became obvious to the

purpled-haired princess when the three of them entered the young

noblewomen' sleeping quarters, where the ritual would take place, and

Seto told them, "As tradition dictates, all participates must be nude,

so no falsehood can enter nor secrets taken out except those in

memory." The blue-haired lady stared at the cabbit held in Sasami's

arms.

Sasami let out a sad sigh, looked at the cabbit and said, "Ryo-chan, I

guess that means you'll have to stay outside."

"Miya," Ryo-ohki replied sadly, she noted the stiffness of Sasami's

body and wanted to stay to comfort her friend.

Sasami turned to the open door and handed the little animal to

Mihoshi, who told the gray creature, "Ryo-ohki, why don't we go to the

jinja and drink some ocha with Katsuhito, ne?"

"Miya," resignation in Ryo-ohki's tone.

"Gu," replied Mihoshi as she turned away while she used her right hand

to pet the cabbit in her left. Sasami closed the door with

trepidation.

So with a closed curtain over the window, the three females disrobed

and took up positions as dictated by Seto. Since Ayeka was the new

initiate to the Secrets of Jurai, she knelt in the middle of the

floor, her limp hands in her lap and eyes closed as she purified her

mind with meditation, a small bowl of Jurain incense and Seto's mirror

before her. After the mediation cleared her mind, the purple-haired

lady opened her eyelids and watched her grandmother carefully placed

the candles around her body. At her grandmother's heels Sasami would

come with a twelve-inch lit match to put flame to the candles' wick.

Ayeka looked on her sister with both pride and love, noting her

sister's mature pose as the soft candlelight sparkled off the key on

her forehead. As the last candles were positioned, Ayeka suddenly

realized the pattern they produced was the same view in the starry sky

overlooking the Jurai palace at midnight, on Tsunami's birthday, on

Startica. Ayeka gave a questioning look at Seto who gave a simple nod

for the question didn't need to be spoken since it was the same one

each initiate asks, 'Are we going to Tsunami?'

With the last candle lit, the princess of the past and the princess of

the future sat horizontal to the princess of the present, Seto on

Ayeka's left and Sasami on her right. Then Seto took the long match

from Sasami's right hand with her own right hand and said as she

brought its burning end into the bowl of incense, "We will begin the

ceremony."

With snap, crackle and pop, the powder filled the room with a blue

smoke. In Ayeka's first inhale of the sweet-smelling emission, her

mind clicked upon the incense's name, Tsunami's Footstep. She

remembered the legend of Tsunami's first day on the newly created

Jurai, how from her right footsteps brought forth the bell-shaped

flowers, later known as Startica Bells, while her left footsteps

created a small brown tree with fragrant bark, Tsunami's Footstep. The

motion of Seto's left hand linking with Sasami's right hand brought

Ayeka's attention back to them where her hands linked with the two

princesses' still available hands. Ayeka's sensitive touch could feel

Seto's claim confidence but there was a slight tremble from Sasami's

hand. 'Sasami must be very excited because we might meet Tsunami, her

bondmate, together,' Ayeka thought. But it wasn't the thrill of

introducing her bondmate to her sister and grandmother that vibrated

Sasami's body it was fear. 

While lighting the candles Sasami sensed Tsunami's ghostly fingers

lightly touch her soul while a caring voice asked, 'Sasami-chan, why

do you quiver?'

'Will we be meeting you, Tsunami-megami?' countered the blue-haired

girl.

"Hai, Sasami-chan," a loving voice replied in the child's mind.

"I'm afraid, Tsunami-megami," Sasami's anxiety filled her soundless

words.

"You fear Seto will recognize my projection for your mature form,"

Sasami felt a gentle warmth fill her spirit, "and will tell others."

"I need them, Tsunami-megami," Sasami's own dread lessened by the

goddess' love, "It's their love for me and mine for them that lifts me

out of the darkest dreams and makes each day special."

"Don't worry akachan, Seto will assume I take this form to show my

closeness to the Jurai Oken Kazoku," Tsunami assured the little one,

"remember, you look very much like Misaki-dono did when she was your

age."

Sasami's fear subsided but her hand still tremble when she touched her

sister's hand and her pink ears heard Seto's words as her grandmother

picked up her mirror, "In reverence and awe we ask Tsunami-megami, the

Tree of the Beginning, to find us worthy enough to visit your garden

so we may bring a descendant of the first Masaki into adulthood. To

quench her thirst in your fountain's sweet water, to adorn her hair

with your white flowers and to brighten her path with your gentle

radiance."

When the last word parted from Seto's lips, Sasami let out a little

gasp as Tsunami's fire encased the little one's own flame, pumping the

bright bluish-white light into Sasami's eyes and key. From Sasami's

key a spider thread beam strikes Seto's mirror, embraced the eldest

princess in a captive glow, then bends off the glass so it could stab

Ayeka's tiara, illuminating the last princess before returning to its

origin, forming an triangle with the princesses as the corners. With

the removal of all inhibitions by the aromatic smoke, the power in the

triangle freed the princesses from their fleshy prisons as the waxy

lights around them were replaced by cool starlight.

**********

Tenjyu, the Palace Tree, Jurai

Arm in arm Funaho and Misaki walked in the royal gardens within Tenjyu

but there was little good feelings being shared by the two for both

queens of Jurai were possessed by concern for their offspring. Not in

the way she walked nor the way she dressed did Funaho show how she

missed her son, Yosho, but this wasn't true for Misaki. With each

passing day the excitable lady would lose another bit of her gaiety to

the pressing duties as the Supreme Commander of the Royal Bodyguard,

the Kishi Jurai. Funaho saw how the holder of part of her heart no

longer wore the bright colors of spring but instead covered her body

with grayness of winter. At first it was Ayeka's and Sasami's letters

and the Pretty Sami stories that checked the blue-haired queen's

depression but nothing had been heard from the two princesses for the

last fifty years. The final straw came when Seto parted from her

family, saying only she wasn't coming back until she found the mother

of her heart. With Seto's departure even Azusa's passionate kisses nor

Funaho's gentle caresses could stop Misaki's decline. Then the reports

began again, talk of a ghost seen in Ayeka's garden.

Off and on over the past seven hundred years guards and servants

reported seeing a lady phantom in the garden Ayeka had rebuilt after

Ryoko's attack destroyed it. In the beginning those who saw the spirit

thought it was Misaki or that Ayeka returned her hair to its original

color but when confronted the image would smile and vanish. After a

time the new occupant of Ayeka's garden was accepted by all but it was

strange that the apparition wouldn't appear if Funaho, Misaki or Azusa

were in the garden. Now in the past three weeks a development was

reported to Funaho and Azusa but not to Misaki, a blue-haired girl had

been seen in the garden with the ghost, a child who mirrored the

features of the spirit. Both husband and wife were worried by this

news, especially after Funaho-Ki's message was received from Earth.

Could the message and little spirit's appearance mean Yosho, Sasami

and Ayeka were dead? The doubts racked Funaho's heart but she couldn't

let Misaki know her mates' fears, such knowledge would end her loved

one's life.

By bringing Misaki to Ayeka's garden Funaho hoped to raise their

spirits but there was another reason in the black-haired queen's mind.

In the last year Misaki begin to miss her practice sessions with

Funaho. The brown-eyed queen knew Misaki no longer found peace in the

warm-up exercises or enjoyment in their mock combats for her heart

just wasn't in it anymore. Then something happened this morning for as

Funaho finished her exercises, when each aspect of her being joined as

one, she felt an intelligence come with a gentle breeze from the

room's high windows and she heard a voice as soft as a downy chick,

"Take Misaki-sama to Ayeka-san's garden, just as the last moon joins

its sisters in the sky above Tenjyu."

With the despondent Misaki guided by Funaho's gentle embrace, they

made their way to the centerpiece of the garden, a fountain showing a

vaguely feminine image upon a six-foot high stone, water rained

lightly from her upturned finger tips upon the idealized figures of

Horosha carrying Washi through the pool. As they drew close to the

marble object, both Funaho and Misaki stopped with wide eyes as the

queens felt their pink skin prickle from the energy in the air

surrounding them. With discretion Funaho pulled the startled Misaki to

the left, into some heavily leafed bushes. Only seconds passed before

a pair of red eyes and a pair of brown eyes saw what almost everyone

else has seen, a beautiful young lady with blue hair tied in long twin

ponytails and wearing a Jurain kimono of blue, pink, purple and white.

Both let out a gasp as they realized what was said was true, the

spirit did look like a young Misaki or a blue-haired Ayeka. The

enervated noise they made brought the ghost's pink eyes to their

hiding place but instead of disappearing, she held her right index

finger horizontal to her lips before returning her sight to an area

next to the fountain. In a few more minutes a triangle of bluish-white

light filled the designated area, then at each point a mirror, a tiara

and a tiny key appeared. As the brilliance increased three forms

shimmered into existence.

Neither of the awed queens could see who appeared until the appearing

images stood up and faced the ghost. In a few heartbeats all of

Funaho's and Misaki's fears gave way to joy for before them stood

Ayeka, Sasami and Seto. It was Funaho who recovered quickest and

stopped her beloved from breaking out of cover to run to her children.

When the confused Misaki turned her eyes upon her mate, it was

Funaho's gesture with her right hand and a nod of her head that made

the excitable queen concentrate upon the figures. It wasn't long

before she spotted what her dearest had seen earlier, how the skins of

her children and her mother seem to be made of light, she understood

the three images before her eyes were astral projections. With effort

Misaki brought herself down from a mother's joy but it didn't stop her

from giving Funaho a bone cracking hug, then the Cheshire Cat's

smiling queen and the half-strangled queen settled down to listen to

the conversation drifting to them on a moth's wings.

When Ayeka appeared, her back was to Tsunami, so her first warning of

the goddess' nearness was the look of wonder on Seto's face as the

three stood on their feet. The purple-haired princess turned to follow

her grandmother's line-of-sight and found a woman slightly taller than

herself, whose body carried the same glow as Ayeka's and the others.

Ayeka's ruby eyes go wide with reverence and her legs turn to Jell-O

for she saw the two dots upon the lady's clear forehead, two dots

found on all statuaries of Tsunami.

"Tsunami-megami," veneration in Ayeka's voice as her knees gave way

only to have her descent stopped by the goddess' quick movement and

firm hands.

"Mo, Ayeka-sama," Tsunami's caring voice reached Ayeka's ears, "I'm

here to help you, not to seek your supplication."

"You look so much like my musume," Seto commented with

inquisitiveness.

"Since Sasami-chan has become my bondmate, I've taken this form to

help build a friendly relationship between us," Sasami's shoulders sag

with relief when Seto gave a nod of agreement to Tsunami's answer,

then the goddess continued, "Let's sit upon the fountain and cool our

feet in its refreshing water, ii wa."

A sliver of surprise ran through Ayeka's mind as her vision saw the

pink Zephyr granite fountain next to her and took in the surrounding

trees, flowers and shrubs before she said to the goddess, "We are in

my garden, on Jurai."

"I thought to quiet your inner turmoil by having familiar things

around you," Tsunami informed Ayeka while looking up at the fountain's

statues, "and I must say I do enjoy the addition you made to it."

"Domo arigato, Tsunami-megami," Ayeka bowed her head at such an

unexpected compliment, "I want to remind others," a note of contempt

entered her voice, "that the Oken Kazoku Jurai was founded on love."

"Gu for you, Oujo-chan," Tsunami grinned before using her hands to

hitch up her kimono so she could step over the fountain's edge, placed

her very human feet in the water and sat on the fountain's marble

stone edge. Ayeka stood like a pillar of salt because of Tsunami's use

of her nickname before the goddess' mild stare broke her shock and

allowed her to enter the water and sat between Tsunami and her smiling

sister while her proud grandmother took up a place on Sasami's right.

Ayeka had worried about being nude before her deity but her concern

quickly dissipated by Tsunami's almost sisterly kindness. When Tsunami

caught Ayeka's glance at the goddess' feet, she teased, "Did you

expect to see roots coming out of my feet ne?"

"Hai . . . ara . . . mo . . . I mean . . . " Ayeka fumbled over her

reply before she realized the absurdity in Tsunami's question, which

conjured hearty laughter from her lips and was accompanied by a chorus

of giggles and hoots from the rest.

The music of the cascading water drops was mixed with the music of

merriment before Tsunami finally said, "Now that we are in good cheer,

let us proceed with the telling of secrets."

"Hai, ee, un," the others reply.

"I understand you have been having trouble controlling your emotions,

Ayeka-sama," Tsunami gently said.

Ayeka blushed brightly as she glanced from the corner of her eyes at

Sasami before hesitatingly saying, "My . . . my emotions are not the

only problem . . . it's my body too."

"Your hands and feet are very sensitive," Tsunami tenderly stated.

"Hai," a relieved Ayeka acknowledged, glad Tsunami knew what troubled

her, "even now my feet are sending soothing waves of refreshment from

the cool water surrounding them."

"During Seikizuna, when you and your bondmate drink each other's sap

and blood, it forms not only the telepathic bond between the two, it

also changes both physically," Tsunami saw the surprise on Ayeka's

face as her words sank deep into the slim princess' mind, "My

offspring gain a rudimentary personality based on the human bondmate's

or some other factor such as what happened when Azusa-dono named

Kirito."

"Mitsuki-dono," heartbreaking sadness reflected in Seto's words and

face.

"Two innocents punished for another man's evil," Tsunami added with

anger before calming herself so she could continue, "what the human

bondmate gains from the exchange is just as dramatic, not only do his

or her hands and feet become sensitive to touch, to feel, but the

contact with the alien mind of my offspring also triggers in the human

consciousness an overwhelming need for intimate relationships with

others of its own kind."

"With others!" surprise in Ayeka's voice as her eyes become like

saucers.

"Hai, with those of either gender," Seto added with a knowing look on

her face.

"The relationship between my okasamas!" sudden insight entered Ayeka's

mind.

"Because Funaho-sama and Misaki-sama bonded with Mizu-ho and Kar-in,

the Nijumi-Ki," Tsunami's pink eyes wandered to an area to her right

while she talked, "unforeseen emotional closeness developed between

them, it was as if by bonding with Nijumi-Ki they became one mind,

each merged with the other's ki and each knowing the pure love they

held for the other."

"In the end, it was this combined love that made it possible for

Azusa-dono to accept my musume as his second okusan (wife) and to love

her," Seto added with certainty.

'He couldn't love one without loving the other,' Ayeka remembered a

statement she had heard as a child, not knowing its meaning, then a

question popped into her mind, "The physical nature of their

relationship?"

"When the bonding took place, Misaki-sama was four-years-old and

Funaho-sama was fourteen-years-old. Think of the confusion Funaho-

sama's adolescent feelings caused in Misaki-sama's preteen mind,

magnified by the normal process of the bonding," Tsunami saw the

impact her statement was having on the others.

"Because of the bond Funaho-dono knew Misaki-dono's sufferings," Seto

pickup the discussion, "It became worse once Funaho-dono and Azusa-

dono were married for my musume feared her marriage to your otousama

would be of convenience and nothing more."

"So Funaho-sama decided to include Misaki-sama in every part of her

life, from ceremonial dinners to walks in the garden to martial arts

practices," Tsunami's face held a secretive smile, "Funaho-sama wanted

Misaki-sama to know they would always be someone to hold her, to kiss

her and ai suru her."

"By the time Misaki-dono married Azusa-dono, he found he could love

her too and the special relationship his two okusans had added to

their pillow talk," Seto finished.

"You don't have to hide everything from me!" Sasami huffed at the

disguised language the three adults were using, at her being treated

like a child. "Just say they have suge supa etchi (super kinky sex)."

"SASAMI!" Ayeka's shocking shout covered up the sound of the queens

falling backward in the bushes.

"Dewa, it's true isn't it," Sasami looked back and forth at Seto and

Ayeka, Tsunami had to hide her Cheshire Cat's grin with her pink

hands.

"It is something you just don't blurt right out with, Sasami!"

indignation in Ayeka's tone.

"Hai, you might scare the bajin himes (virgin princesses)," Seto

added.

"Oke, if you say so," Sasami returned with a frown, "I just thought as

long as they're happy that's all that matters."

Seto's indirect sarcasm and Sasami's simple words cooled Ayeka's jets.

Making quick recovery, Ayeka firmly said, "Sasami, an oujosama must be

a well-mannered person who doesn't use base words thoughtlessly. If

you keep it up, I'll have to talk to Nobuyuki-san about you using his

portable communication device."

"A Walkman," Sasami informed her sister with a flat tone.

"Sasami-chan, Ayeka-dono is correct," Seto's words caught the younger

princess off guard, "your strong heart allows you to see and tell the

truth but one should be careful which words you use to tell it, it

does make a difference."

"You mean I would use different words with oneesama than I would use

with Ryoko-neechan ne?" Sasami asked thoughtfully of her grandmother.

"Tadshii," Seto gave a little nod.

"But Ryoko-neechan, Mihoshi-neechan and Kitsune-san speak plainly,"

Sasami countered.

"Because their profession requires them to speak that way just as

yours will require you speak diplomatically at times," Seto explained

simply.

"But you're an uchu kaizoku and an oujosama," Sasami pointed out.

"And I act differently according to what duties I'm performing, those

of an oujosama or those of an uchu kaizoku," Seto patiently stated.

Seeing Sasami was getting a feel for what Seto was saying, Ayeka

decided to add some sugar to the lesson, "Sasami, if you use proper

words when you should, I'll read you a new Pretty Sami story when I

get back from my trip to Tokyo."

"A new Pretty Sami story!" Sasami's eyes shine with pink light equal

to the delight in her voice.

"Ee," confirmed Ayeka.

"But we are getting away from the subject of Ayeka's lack of

knowledge," Seto reminded them but not without a tone of happiness

over the warm love her grandchildren shared with each other.

"Hai we are, Seto-sama," Tsunami acknowledged before turning her pink

orbs to Ayeka, "As I said before the mind of my offspring are so

different from the human mind that the telepathic contact between

bondmates strengthens the human compulsion for intimacy with other

humans. It is the reason why your otousama fell so quickly and so

deeply ai suru with Funaho-sama."

"It is also the reason for my oniisama having a koibito when he was at

the Ginga Akademi wa?" Ayeka said with a small voice.

"So you know about Airi-dono," Seto lowly said.

"Naze did it happened!" Ayeka cried with tears in her ruby eyes, "NAZE

WA YO?"

"You shouldn't see it as failure on your part, Oujo-chan," Seto words

carried a comforting tone in them, "Misaki-dono didn't when Azusa-dono

brought Funaho-dono home with him from Earth."

"But okasama was still a child and Funaho-okasama was a special

person," Ayeka remembered how easy it was for her father's first wife

to show equal love for all his offspring.

"Funaho is a rare flower found in an oasis surrounded by desolation,"

Seto's words recalled the first time she saw the dark-haired girl, a

face that carried the mirror image of Mistuki's features.

"I know I'm being irrational, obasama . . ." Ayeka's words were

interrupted when she felt someone clasp her right hand. Looking down

she saw Sasami holding her hand with her twin pink quartz mirrored her

sister's pain. Then she added, "I just wish I had been his first."

"Seven-hundred years is a long time for a man to keep his mono in his

pants," Ayeka smiled at the amusement she heard in Seto's words.

"Hai, just look at obasama," Sasami said with wicked grin, "she didn't

keep kanojo no asoko (her vagina) only for Utsumi-ojiisama, not for

four thou . . . OUCH!" cried Sasami when Seto's knuckles rapped the

little princess' blue-haired head.

"It must be genetics," Seto slowly commented with narrowed eyes while

Tsunami was barely able to suppress her laughter while Ayeka bit her

lip at Sasami's language, "Misaki-dono once said the same thing."

"Must take after the Oni Hime Jurai," Seto gave Tsunami a hot glare

because of the goddess' amused use of Seto's Juraigo nickname.

With the conversation shifted to Sasami, a nagging question entered

Ayeka's mind and so she asked the goddess, "I ask beforehand for

forgiveness if this question is impertinent but why did you chose to

bond with Sasami."

Tsunami saw the fear on Sasami's face and felt it through their shared

being. So the goddess returned to the youngest princess thoughts of

reassurance as she answered, "In the many threads that make the

future, I saw a child of infinite warmth tangled in them, not having

any command over her own destiny. I decided such wasted potential

couldn't be allowed to happen."

"But there was something else, ne?" Seto asked as she remembered

Katsuhito's comments, her observations on Tsunami's shift in her

treatment of the government on Jurai and Sasami's tensed body

language.

"I have never bonded with a human yet through my offspring's group

mind I sensed the forming of friendship, affection, between them and

their human bondmates," everyone saw the look of love Tsunami gave

Sasami, "I'm tired of being lonely, without someone I could call a

friend."

The goddess' admission brought Ayeka's own desires back to the fore,

"Tsunami-megami, why hasn't my oniisama made himself known to us?"

confusion in Ayeka's face and words, "Our contact with Funaho-Ki must

have announced our presence at the Masaki's jinja."

"I cannot tell you, Ayeka-sama," Ayeka heard the heaviness in

Tsunami's words.

"If it is because he married another shojo, I can accept it," Ayeka

put every scrap of her passion in her words, "I still ai my oniisama,

I still want him for my otto wa!"

"You will have to ask Yosho-sama when you find him," Tsunami sadly

told Ayeka.

"But he is alive wa?" Ayeka hopefully asked.

"Hai, he is," Tsunami saw the relief on Ayeka's face, the slim

princess now knowing her search for her brother was not futile.

With renewed vigor in Ayeka's heart, she looked up at the two statues

receiving Tsunami's blessing, hoping one day to find the kind of love

that was shared by Horosha and Washi. The purple-haired lady was

musing over those stories when something caught her attention and she

asked, "Tsunami-megami, there is something that puzzles me."

"Oi," Tsunami returned.

"The stories tell of Horosha-sama coming from beyond Jurai ne?"

recollected Ayeka.

"That is true," Tsunami confirmed, she was sure where this line-of-

thought was heading to.

"Where did Horosha-sama come from?" Ayeka asked carefully.

"Horosha-dono came from . . . " Tsunami suddenly stopped, then a small

smile graced her lips before she continued, "It looks like our meeting

is coming to an end in ten . . . nine . . . eight . . . seven . . .

six . . . "

Confusion visited all the faces in the garden because of Tsunami's

countdown.

**********

Masaki Residence

Tenchi found his homework this evening a breeze compared to most

nights, either Ryoko would phase in to whisper sweet nothings in his

ear, Ayeka would knock on his door to ask about his health, Sasami

would come in to ask about a word she heard on the radio or a heated

argument would develop between Ayeka and Ryoko over some real or

imagine insults. With Ryoko off with the American detectives and Seto

with her granddaughters, the house was eerily quiet. He became puzzled

when Mihoshi told him she was taking Ryo-ohki to the shrine for some

tea with his grandfather but decided the pleasant blond wanted to show

her respect to the head-of-the-family. With the closing of the last

book, the stretching of his appendages and a deep yawn, the

shorthaired young man got up from his alcove desk, walked to the door,

slid it open, step out and slid it closed. His look of contentment

changed to one of concern when his nose caught a whiff of smoke. The

stocking-footed youth's initial look from his bedroom door showed

nothing so he walked to the second floor's main hallway, it is there

terror filled his soul when he saw blue smoke leaking out from under

the princesses' bedroom.

"Kaji! Kaji! (Fire! Fire!)" shouted Tenchi as his feet pounded down

the hall's bare wood to the princesses' room. When he reached the

door, he stopped from throwing the door open because he feared fresh

air would bring the fire on the other side to roaring life, instead he

scrambled to the upstairs benjo where he grabbed two buckets, one of

water and one of sand, that were kept for just this kind of emergency.

Using the method taught to him at school he kept the bucket of water

in his left hand, threw open the princess' bedroom door with the other

arm and with both hands he threw the water into the room of obscuring

smoke. The water put out the candles and the incense but the icy

liquid also brought shocking screams from the three princesses. A

bleeding nose and bug-out eyes were the instant result of Tenchi's

brown eyes beheld three very cute and very wet naked females. His

stare also produced an instant result for in a blinding rage Ayeka

grabbed the closest things to throw at the unidentified male who dared

to stare at her unclothed body, her first missile was accompanied with

her shout, "CHIKAN!"

The first candle barely missing his head snapped Tenchi out of his

shocked trance, allowing him to dodge the next incoming wax missiles

but not for long. When his ears heard the roaring laughter coming from

Sasami and Seto, he turned to them and said with mild anger, "Will one

of you kindly stopped laug . . . " The rest of Tenchi's words are cut

short when waxy Castor found a home in the youth's third neck

vertebrate.

**********

Ayeka's Garden, Tenjyu, Jurai

"Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . " Tsunami

smiled became bigger and bigger as she reached one, then an icy shock

hit all three princesses and their chilly shouts were cut off as their

astral bodies flickered out. With just a few seconds delay the two

queens jumped up from their hiding place and took a few steps forward

before their own bewilderment stopped them. With clear sight they saw

no one with the blue-haired goddess, who turned to the upset queens

and gave them a respectful bow before her form disappeared. Both

Funaho and Misaki gave robotic bows before their legs quickly carried

them to the fountain, two sets of eyes searching for clues to show

that their aching hearts didn't dream this vision.

It was Funaho who spoke first as her right hand reached for Misaki's

left arm while saying, "Oneesan, I think Tsunami-megami wanted us . .

. "

Funaho's words were interrupted when Misaki spun suddenly to her left,

straight into Funaho's body while bending at her waist so her strong

arms could wrap themselves around the black-haired lady's hips. Misaki

hoisted her beloved into the air and on light feet that showed Funaho

was no burden, the blue-haired queen danced about while shouting

joyously, "SASAMI-CHAN IS ALIVE, AYEKA-CHAN IS ALIVE, YOSHO-CHAN IS

ALIVE!"

Funaho grinned down at the upturned face of Misaki, her voice caught

up in the overflowing euphoria from the one who was one with her soul,

"HAI, THEY ARE ALL ALIVE!"

With all the dizzy spinning and lightheaded exultation, both queens

lost sight of the world around them so it took just a small bump and a

loss of balance to cause them to fall into the fountain. On their

sides and facing each other, the two ladies' hearts refuse to come to

earth so they burst spontaneously into giggles leading to chuckles

followed by howls of joy at the condition of their wet clothes and

bodies.

When her own laughter finally stopped, Funaho's brown eyes saw Misaki

looking at her, those red eyes staring through dripping blue hair with

a fiery passion Funaho hadn't seen, hadn't felt through their bond, in

so many years. Two heads moved together and two sets of lips kissed.

Tongues danced within both mouths as their arms drew them close enough

for the rubbing of the wet Gemini Silk kimonos, trapped between the

entangled bodies, to put fire in their skin. Funaho felt Misaki's body

jump a little as her tongue moved underneath Misaki's lip and across

her upper gum, then it was Funaho's turn to shiver with pleasure when

Misaki's mouth began sucking on the brown-eyed queen's lower lip.

Both queens' hands, sensitive as the hairs of tree roots, performed

intricate patterns on the other's hands, going from the fingertips on

down to the palm and to the back. With completion of one pattern came

the start of another, each one designed to increase the participants'

arousal. As both queens parted lips, the tips of their tongues the

last to touch, they both brought their right hands up while their

lefts continued the patterns. With skill learned from teaching and

experience both queens interspersed kisses and tongue licks on the

other's right hand, starting at the base of the palm, working up first

the thumb, then each finger but making sure every inch of the palm was

covered, finally the lips found the tip of the middle finger but that

was not the end. With forethought the lips of Funaho and Misaki opened

so their mouths could take in the full length of the middle digit,

calling forth coos and moans from the closed orifices. As their mouths

moved up and down the full length of the middle finger, causing both

queens' hearts to race and their blood boiled with oxygen, the combs

in each of the queens' hair started to glow.

As soft moans and sensual coos gave why to lustful howls, as both

bodies were caught in uncontrollable tremors, the bluish-white light

burned ever brighter, drowning out all shadows in and near the

fountain. If anyone were watching the going on in Ayeka's garden, his

sight would cease, as a layer of white light would be the only thing

the spy would see. Only by other means would anyone know the height of

sensuality Funaho and Misaki reached as each shared the other's

orgasms.

Finally when one mind divided to become two again, it was only by

looking up in the starry sky and seeing the passage of Jurai's moons

could Funaho and Misaki tell how long they made love to each other.

With handholding and heads resting upon the others' left shoulder,

Funaho said with words full of happiness, "Welcome back my sweet

oneesan."

With a smile only her daughter Sasami could equal, Misaki looked at

Funaho's blissful face and said, "Oneesan, let us find our husband.

Maybe we can surprise our children with an imoto or an ototo when they

come home."

"Hai, let's," Funaho agreed.

Both helped the other out of the fountain and left Ayeka's garden to

search for Azusa. By the next day's noon sun, new rumors floated about

the wooden palace: Misaki was hugging everyone again, Funaho's smile

had sunshine in it again and Azusa canceled all official dinners for

the next seven nights.

**********

Notes: Komatta! (Oh God!) What a long chapter this turned out to be

and I didn't end it where I wanted to either! It's frustrating that I

have the whole story already finished in my head and it takes so many

words be bring into existence so others can read and enjoy it

Story Development:

1.As I have told people on message boards and mailing lists that it is

critical the beginning of any story or each chapter of a multi-part

story is the best part. Why? Because it is the hook that will catch

the reader for you. This is why I asked a friend of mine, Literary

Eagle, if I could use an ideal she developed for her own Tenchi

fanfiction series, Confess To Me, for the beginning of this chapter.

In her series, Lita had Ayeka writing Pretty Sami stories for Sasami

as a way to entertain and to show her love for the child. In the early

stories Tsunami is the queen of a planet called Juraihelm and Sasami

is her adopted daughter. They have fun shocking the conservative

nobles and courtiers with some very unladylike antics like playing

hide-and-go-seek in the throne room. To protect her mother from the

plans of wicked people, Sasami would change into Pretty Sami. Once

Ayeka and Sasami are on Earth, Ayeka has Pretty Sami crashing on the

same planet where she is joined by a partner, a male Ryo-ohki who can

transform into a cabbit and can give Sasami the magical baton that

allows her to change into Pretty Sami. Besides giving me a great

opener for this chapter, it allowed me to use an alternate Pretty Sami

universe that I had all the information on. Except for episode three

of the Pretty Sami OVA and Kuroda Yosuke's manga story that appeared

in the No Need For Tenchi manga series, my knowledge of the either the

OVA or the TV series in very incomplete. A third reason for using this

alternate Pretty Sami universe is to show my thanks to Lita for her

support and to advertise her wonderful series. "The Tales of Pretty

Sami" will appear from time to time in this series and I may write a

separate series.

2. Romance, Love and Sex: As you have already noticed I had three love

scenes in this chapter, one between Nobuyuki and Scully, one between

Ryoko and Handover, and one between Misaki and Funaho. You might say

this turns my series in a lemon series but I don't agree. Lemons are

lengthy sexual encounters or several sexual encounters with a plotline

linking them together, the plotline doesn't control the story the

sexual encounters do. Here, the love scenes are the results of the

plotline. I also wanted to present into the reader's mind the idea

that love scenes of humanoids would be different from what we

Earthlings would consider normal behavior. As long as the beings have

humanoid bodies some similarities will remain but there should be a

great deal of variation in foreplay due to their

physical/psychological/cultural differences from us. Now the love

scene between Scully and Nobuyuki is much like any other because both

are Earthlings (although both have been touched by Funaho-Ki through

Achika). The love scene between Ryoko and Handover is different

because both are humanoids but not Earthlings. The love scene between

Misaki and Funaho showed how the influence of Tsunami's offspring had

on their humanoid bondmates (much of a race's psychological frameworks

based on their biological structure, so imagine how different the

Space Trees' minds are from humanoid minds). Of course my own opinion

of romance, love and sex is they are a major part of what makes us

human or any humanoid what they are. Sentient beings are sexual

creatures and this aspect of their lives can't be ignored, especially

in a series like Tenchi OAV which contains so much romance, love and

sex.

3. Flashbacks: I will continue to present mini-stories in the

flashbacks. They are design to add depth to each character, to explain

the history of Jurai, Earth's special connection to Jurai, background

to the Galaxy Union, flesh out the Galaxy Police and to show the

interconnection between the characters. Although the number of mini-

stories haven't really increased their length has.

4. Love Triangles: This part of Tenchi Muyo was discussed heavily on

the mailing list and the message boards recently. Love triangles are a

major part of many epic stories and plays but like Entry Plug pointed

out, they are full of heartache and tears. While Tenchi Universe is to

some extent a love triangle between Tenchi, Ryoko and Ayeka, Tenchi

Muyo OAV isn't, it is more of a pentagram with each of the female

characters at the points while Tenchi is in the middle. Now that

doesn't mean I think each female has an equal chance of getting Tenchi

or even wants him as a lover. I think Washu-chan is more interested in

Tenchi because on his unique abilities but this doesn't stop her from

pretending to chase after the boy as a way to tease the other

characters. I think Sasami is attracted to the idea of romantic love

as shown in shojo manga but sees Tenchi as a big brother, who's girl

problems gives the child a chance at some entertaining tricks. This

gets us down to the three real rivals for Tenchi's love, Mihoshi,

Ayeka and Ryoko. Mihoshi's problem is one of self-confidence, she just

doesn't believe her chance of catching Tenchi's heart because she sees

Ayeka and Ryoko as better persons (Mihoshi has actually shown better

domestic skills than Ayeka or Ryoko). Ayeka is after Tenchi because

she sees the young Yosho in him and that in her opinion she is the

perfect person for him (heritage, looks, bank account etc . . .), it

doesn't mean she doesn't love him as an individual but she is

attracted to the same qualities in Tenchi that made her willing to

accept Yosho as her husband. Ryoko is simple, she has been in love

with Tenchi for sixteen years as an invisible spirit, watching him

grow from a kawaii child into a handsome young man. Her aggressive

behavior is born from not being able to touch the boy until now, her

frustration at the sudden appearance of other girls, who might steal

Tenchi from her, and her puzzlement that Tenchi doesn't show the same

intense feels of love for her as she does for him.

Characters:

Kiyone: In my series Kiyone and Mihoshi have known each other since

they were children, Kiyone is a street kid Mihoshi offered friendship

to. At first Kiyone only used Mihoshi to escape from the GP Hospital

but found herself chased by the blond bombshell. In the end it was

Mihoshi's blind trust in Kiyone that made the little gangster accept

the hand of friendship.

Mihoshi: I continue my balancing act of showing Mihoshi's child-like

soul and her Galaxy Police professionalism, how her personality mix

allowed her to have such loyal friends like the Kiyone and Seto.

Donald Dortmund: I decided to use one of my prereaders as a character

in my series because he is from Chi-town and does have family

connections to the local police. It also allowed me to set up a

skeleton framework for one of my later crossover story. I do have

plans for some of my other prereaders to appear in this series. If

anyone else would like me to include a character based on him or her,

just drop me a line.

Horosha: This chapter showed the alternate Pretty Sami version of

Horosha.

Robert and Timothy O'Neill: I know, I know, for a country where there

are very few foreign Westerners (only 2% of Nihon population is

foreign and Westerners are a small part of that percentage), I've got

three Americans (Scully, Mulder and MacClean) and two Irish (Robert

and Tim) connected to the Masaki family in some way. Their roles in

the series will vary from minor to major players depending on the

situation.

Scully and Nobuyuki: As you can see the love between Scully and

Nobuyuki has finally found wings to fly thanks to Achika and Funaho-

Ki.

Handover: I developed this person back in 1972 as an RPG character.

You already probably know who he is but if you need a clue: one plus

one equals one.

Tsunami: An argument developed on the AFC message board and on the

mailing lists about Tsunami's relationship with Sasami. Some argued

that Tsunami was uncaring about Sasami or treated the child badly.

Others and I argued just the opposite, that Tsunami wiliness to allow

Sasami to merge with her was a caring sacrifice on the goddess's part.

When Tsunami created Jurai and her offspring, the Space Trees, she

imbued in them most of her godhead. To give Sasami the life the child

wanted, Tsunami gave her the remaining part of the goddess' godhead,

which effectively crippled the goddess (Tsunami has to have Sasami at

her side to effectively use her battleship powers and the goddess

wasn't able to save Tenchi's life until Sasami joined her). In a sense

Sasami in already merged with Tsunami, the goddess has only delayed

the submersion of her own self into Sasami's personality to allow the

child to learn how to use her new powers while growing up (I've

developed the idea that Tsunami's was coldly logical but lonely

goddess before the merging, now her personality is very much like

Sasami's). In a sense Sasami is a new goddess.

Sasami: The constant fear for Sasami is her friends will discover she

isn't what she appears to be. When Sasami merged with Tsunami, her

three-year-old mind was confused by her new nature. She was no longer

just an ordinary Jurain girl, she was now a child able to do powerful

things and know great secrets. So she concluded that she wasn't the

real Sasami but a copy created by Tsunami to replace the dead child.

In a sense Sasami isn't the same child that died on that day for by

merging with Tsunami, Sasami became a new goddess. This can be seen by

the how Sasami seemed to be a complex mix of maturity and mischief-

maker (an eye of ocha as the Nihonjin say). Sasami has a mature mind

with a child's soul that can dance between the stars.

Ryoko: Finally, I reached the point where I was able to explain

Ryoko's strange behavior. My prereaders have been wondering why Ryoko

was spending so much time away from Tenchi. The reason is simple,

Ryoko knows Kagato is here and she fears for Tenchi's and Sasami's

safety. She hopes that by not being around them all the time she can

spare their lives when her master takes control of her again. Another

reason is she likes Mulder as a friend because they are many

similarities between the two: both are outsiders (one by choice the

other by fate), both are driven by love for another person (Ryoko's

love for Tenchi and Mulder's love for his missing sister) and both are

big teasers. I also wanted to further develop Ryoko background to show

she had loved another person before Tenchi. I thing that gets to me

are lemon writers who have Ryoko calling herself an virgin before

having sex with Tenchi or someone else (Happosai does give a good

reason why the Tenchi Universe's Ryoko was a virgin but others have

turned it into a lemon cliche). For me, a person with sexual

experience isn't a lesser person because of it as long it is done for

love.

Mulder: He is attracted to Ryoko but he knows the cyan-haired woman is

in love with Tenchi. Still he likes her company and wishes his

friendship with her could become something greater. Mulder is a sexual

person with many love affairs to his record. Mulder is also influenced

by guilt caused the loss of his sister and the death of Koyama

Hideyuki.

Ayeka: We have moved forward on the track of Ayeka's metamorphosis,

now she is a full adult thanks to Seto and Sasami/Tsunami and she has

a better understanding of Jurain physical/psychological makeup.

Misaki and Funaho: Okay, okay, I know I have brought in the cliché of

the two Jurain queens as lovers but I hope the reasons I used for this

development (they having bonded with twin trees called the Nijumi-Ki,

one named Mizu-ho and the other named Kar-in) are acceptable, I also

showed they are still in love with their husband, Azusa.

Seto: Seto continues in her role as eldest member of the Jurai Royal

Family and godmother to Mihoshi. She also sees Washu as her mother and

it was Seto who suggested to Washu to create her own family. As for

her relationship with Ryoko you will have to wait to Chapter Four to

see it.

Washu: I developed further Washu-chan's relationship with Seto

(mother-daughter) and her hatred of the adult world. I also wanted

Washu-chan to give her thoughts about the events occurring on Earth

and the nature of Handover.

Kiku, Ogami and Noryuri: These three will appear as minor characters

in the series.


	4. Strange Days, Part Four: Fire and Rain

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo/No Need For Tenchi is a product of Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this wonderful series.

Disclaimer: The X-Flies is the product of Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this excellent series.

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess is the product of Kosuke Fujishima, What's Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi, Ranma 1/2 is the product of Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor V is the product of Naoke Takeuchi and Nancy Drew is the product of Carolyn Keene. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of both of these excellent series (this is here because characters from these series appear in a couple of scenes).

Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear in this series. All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure coincidence.

Notes: This is Chapter Four of Book Two in my crossover series, Strange Days. I would appreciate any C&C about this work. My two E-mail addresses are:

V_Bashaw@hotmail.com

Horosha@mangablast.com

The event in Book Two occur just after Episode Four ("Mihoshi Falls To the Land of Stars") and in the first season of the X-Flies (both taking place in 1992). If anyone is interested in using any of the characters I have created here, please contact me first (especially about Anthony McClean). I don't know much about the training and organizational structure of law enforcement in Nihon and have assumed that it is similar to ours. If you have questions about the story or how I portrayed the characters please read the notes at the end of each chapter and Book One, contact me at my e-mail addresses or post a message at the AFC message board (ayekafanclub.org). I have created a glossary of Nihongo words, idioms and titles to help readers understand them. You can get it at TMFFA (tmffa.com under Crossover) or send me e-mail requesting it. My prereaders for Book Two are K.T.K. (carryover from Book One), Donald Dortmund, Fuzzy Bunny (another carryover) and Top_Quark. Also Luriko-Ysabeth helped me on usage of Nihongo in fanfiction. Both Literary Eagle and Arca gave me a big thumb up for their appearance in this chapter and some helpful advice in developing the cameo. Domo arigato everyone.

"The Tales of Pretty Sami" are based on an alternate universe Pretty Sami storyline created by a good friend of mine, Literary Eagle, for her own Tenchi Muyo OAV series, "Confess To You" (gomen for misspelling the title earlier). I use it here with her kind permission and trust (See Notes at the end of Chapter Three for further discussion).

Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi Muyo to life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajshima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko, and Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Carter for his great series.

Warning: Just like the Tenchi Muyo OAV and the X-Flies this work contains adult language and situations (including some ecchi scenes), so any minor should get parents' permission before reading it.

**********

Tenchi Muyo/X-Flies Crossover

Series Title: "Strange Days"

Book Two Title: "Fire and Rain"

A Fan-Fiction by Horosha

Copyright: May 7, 2002

Chapter Four: Behind Blue Eyes

Masaki Shrine

Light footsteps could be heard upon the granite stairs, just below the entrance to the ancient shrine's courtyard, along with the footfalls was the loud purring pleasure that can only come from a cabbit having its tummy rubbed. Even in the light of the evening star, you couldn't miss the luminous curls surrounding the ebony face surrounding the two sapphire eyes. If you kept your heart from answering the beauty you saw, your ears heard the whispered Nihongo words coming from the woman's red lips, "Ryo-chan, I hope Katsuhito-san doesn't mind us paying him a late visit?"

The throaty rumbles increased volume was the little animal's response to the woman who carried it in her left hand, which caused a little giggle to come from the lady in white pants, a thick pink turtleneck sweater and light brown boots. As her last footfall brought her to the shrine's flat courtyard Mihoshi turned to view the dusk landscape. The woman's vision found another moon in the lake next to the Masaki home along with the remnants of this afternoon's storm passing across the features of the man-in-the-moon.

It took only a few seconds for Ryo-ohki to realize soothing rubs she was experiencing had stopped. Opening her catlike eyes, the cabbit found listless fingers upon her furry tummy. Shifting her amber eyes up, she found the dark woman's face imprisoned by a haunted look. With concern Ryo-ohki said, "Miya?"

The first rays of moonlight glistened off of unshed tears as Mihoshi's body sagged against the courtyard's fence, her limp hand dropped Ryo-ohki to the ground as she slowly slid down to the dusty cobblestones. Ryo-ohki jumped upon the blonde's stomach, put her forepaws upon the policewoman's left breast and cried loudly, "MIYA!"

No response came from Mihoshi, her vision locked upon the two moons and the wispy clouds. In urgency Ryo-ohki bounded off the unresponsive woman and ran to the closest place where help could be found, the high priest's office.

For Mihoshi, the twin moons she saw were those of Beta Lyrae and the clouds were smoke produced by the destruction of a casino upon this well-known bandit's hideout. Again her eyes saw the broken full length mirror beside the walkway, saw herself in a GP Inspector uniform, a Navy blue coat with crimson red pants, both trimmed in gold lace, upon her head was a navy blue beret denoting her level of Inspector, Commodore. Again her mind filled with the urgency of the remembrance, she and her strike team were after one man, Hitoshi Zuzushi. The explosion and the appearance of police uniforms had sent the surrounding criminals out of the area on thunderous feet but the sapphire-eyed woman was sure her target was still somewhere in the casino.

With speed Mihoshi made her way over the broken sidewalk, going into the main entrance where Detective First Class Yui Horie met her. With a quick surveillance of the ground floor, a growing fear in the pit of her stomach found words, "Yui-san, where is Keibu Minarai Noda Junko (Detective Apprentice Noda Junko)?"

"She was with her assigned partner, Keibu Saisho Kaikyu Ueda Yugi, but we lost contact with both of them when the assault team went in," the short silvered-haired man paused as a message came over his earphone, then he stated to his commander, "Kaicho (Commander), Takagi-sama just reported the perimeter has been secured, all noncombatants have left the target area."

"Then go to search pattern Omega," Mihoshi ordered but then added, "but tell them to be careful, we have two missing officers out there."

"Hai, Kaicho," Horie replied before relaying the order to the other GP officers through the mike. His eyes refocused from the mike, found his blond-haired leader had moved but a quick look around showed her heading toward the casino's elevators. Playing catch-up, the black-eyed man said, "It's going to be a bear to search all two-thousand apartments with the power grille out in the building and no jet packs."

"Two-thousand-and-nineteen apartments, Yui-san," Mihoshi corrected as she stopped at one of the closed elevator doors.

"Ara . . . eh . . . Hai, two-thousand-and-nineteen apartments," Horie was still having trouble with his commander's habit of ignoring important items and instead focusing on seemly trivial things. A slight shock caused him to go rigid as Mihoshi suddenly jammed her fingers into the elevator door's left edge and watched her effortlessly pull the sliding door open.

"Gu, the elevator room is here," Mihoshi smiled as she stepped into the compartment but her tone was still dipped in worry.

"Ara . . . Kaicho, I'm confused," Horie's tone left no doubt about it, "I don't see how we can use the elevators when . . . " his statement died when his buxom leader's legs bent and she jumped up with arms above her head. Her long fingers knocked the maintenance hatch open and then they caught the edge. With duty finally breaking through surprise, Horie stepped forward as he said, "Kaicho, let me help . . . "

"That's oke Yui-san," forced cheerfulness in Mihoshi's tone, "I'm going up this way."

"You're CLIMBING the shaft!" astonishment in Horie's eyes and words.

"Iie, baka wa," Mihoshi corrected, "I'm climbing the cable."

"But the building is twenty stories HIGH!" Horie's jaw seemed to touch the ground.

"Don't worry," Mihoshi grinned down at the second-in-command, "it'll be just like gym back at the GP Academy."

"Then wait for me!" Horie started to gather himself for a jump.

"Iie, Yui-san," affection in Mihoshi's voice, "I'm going to stealth mode and I need you to stay here to operate the team."

"Are you sure, Kaicho?" a genuine concern for Mihoshi's well-being very visible in his voice, "shouldn't someone go with you?"

"I'll be fine, Yui-san," Mihoshi gave Horie a V for victory sign with her right hand, "just be sure the sharpshooters have the roof covered."

"Hai, Kaicho," professionalism back in Horie's tone, "We'll make sure this dirty bird won't fly the coop."

"Ja ne," Mihoshi called down to the blue uniformed man before disappearing from his sight.

Without any eyes able to see the foreboding on her face, Mihoshi quickly made her way to the elevator's one inch thick cable, successfully made a straight up sixteen foot jump, where she wrapped her strong hands and legs around the abrasive metal rope. For an onlooker it wouldn't be the policewoman's ability to climb the long metal cord that would surprise him or her, instead it would be the spider monkey speed she showed that would bug out the observer's eyes.

Mihoshi's GPCB body was showing no fatigue as she reached the thirteenth floor, but her undivided attention to her ascent left her open to surprise when a maintenance access hatch opened inward. Frozen in mid-climb, the policewoman found her ebony face just inches from a gray female face with big brown eyes and even bigger ears coming out of curly chestnut hair. The blond bombshell watched as the creature looked up and then down the shaft before pulling out a well-used road map with her right hand. The being studied the map it held in both of its white gloved hands, until an angry frown appeared on its bucktooth mouth, followed by frustrated English words, "I knew I should've turned left at Albuquerque."

"Eh . . . " Mihoshi's eyes, matching the size of the creature's eyes, looked down the length of the other woman's back to the gray-and-white powderpuff tail poking through the long hair, a tail that twitched with aggravation.

Looking straight ahead and realizing for the first time that someone was hanging in front of her, the fuzzy humanoid's face brightened as hope filled her words, "Say Doc, do you think you could help me?" The being in a pink tank top that barely held her chesty asserts (with an image of a whip forming black words upon the front of the top, "My hobby is S&M, what's yours?"), maneuvered the map so a very silent Mihoshi could read it before she continued, "I'm trying to reach ComicCon, in San Diego."

"You mean WE don't you, Lita!" Mihoshi's eyes reached new dimensions when she saw the new speaker's jam her raven-haired head next to the other strange woman. While there was no mistaking the gray-haired hare as a female, her honey brown feathery companion had an athletic physic that only required her to wear a buttoned sour green vest to hold her twin treasures. With the shake of her tail feathers showing her agitation, the dark brown-eyed woman said, "And the only reason I'm with you is that you assured me you knew the way to a place where it was girl season."

"Arca, I told you they had a boy season there," a calm confidence in the bucktooth speaker's voice.

"Fibber!" her birdlike face now between Mihoshi's and the bunny girl's face, "you said, girl season!"

"Boy season."

"Girl season!"

"Boy season."

"GIRL season!"

"Boy season."

"GIRL SEASON!"

"You know, Arca, this is a good skit," the one identified as Lita said as she exchanged her map for a notebook and started to write down the words.

The one called Arca pulled out a palmtop computer from somewhere and quickly wrote down the words with its pen before saying, "You're right, Lita, but what to do with it from here?"

"Mmm . . . " Lita's eyes glowed with enlightenment as she wrote down some lines, "How about this?" The duck girl looked at her friend's notebook as the bunny girl read the opening line, "Look, Arca, I'm sorry that you misunderstood me. I really meant boy season."

"Well, you did say there would be boys dressed as girls and girls dressed as boys," the webfoot wonder read her lines on the notebook, "maybe I just got the two confused."

"We could still go?" encouragement in the long-eared girl's voice, "I hear they're showing a new television series, about a boy joining a galactic police force and being chased by all these girls."

"Eh . . . that kind of show really isn't my cup-of-tea, Lita," then Arca eyes brightened as she adlib, "Hey! Maybe they're got some yuri dojinshi!"

Lita giggled at her friend's suggestion before she asked, "So, what do you think?"

"I like it but how about if we add this to the end of your part?" Arca's pen flew over the palmtop's screen and when she finished, Lita gave voice to her first line, "You know neither one of us needs a boy season nor a girl season."

"What do you mean?" a liquid sweetness to Arca's voice.

"How can a stranger give," roses bloom in Lita's fuzzy cheeks as she realized what the words she was reading could lead to, "what can only be found between friends."

"In what way?" Arca's chocolate gaze softened as she moved a little closer to her friend.

"A dove will roam the sky to find its lifelong companion," Lita's words touched her own heart, "a rabbit will defeat its rivals in winning a mate's love."

"Am I your mate?" Arca closed the remaining space between them.

"I sing the body electric," truth wasn't absent from Lita's reply, "when you are near."

"Ooohhh Lita, I love it when you're talking sexy to me," the depth of passion in Arca's response showed the honesty of her words.

"You know . . . all my pranks were meant . . . to show how much . . . I was attracted to you," Lita had trouble saying her lines as she felt her tank top rubbed against Arca's vest, a sensation that made her nipples hard.

"It was only later I found your love for me in your deeds," the feathery touch of Arca's right hand upon Lita's left furry cheek incited a loving sigh from the bunny girl's lips.

"Why do you think . . . I dressed up as a guy . . . so many times," hunger filled Lita's cinnamon eyes as she surrendered herself to her love, her hands reached around to trace her companion's spin, "it wasn't for Elma."

"I was so wrapped up in the one-upmanship," the caresses of Lita's fingers make Arca's voice voluptuous, "I couldn't see the message you were sending me." A breath of air separated Arca's golden face from Lita's gray face, noses smelled the scent of ardor in their sweetheart's breath and two pairs of eyes gave consent to the other for the touching of rosy lips.

"This is a police firefight zone and you are both in danger," Mihoshi finally clicked into action, "so I must forcefully ask both of you to make your way down the stairs, where my junior officers will safely escort you out of danger."

Arca's cornrow hair swirled as her head turned to dagger-glare at Mihoshi while Lita snapped out of the spell the moment had placed on her, then a sly smile appeared on Arca's bill as her eyes took in the full dimensions of Mihoshi's body before she asked in teasing tone, "Lita, you think the copper is jealous because she's horny for some action?"

"Errr . . . could be!" Lita barely able to pull her vision from Arca's enchanting face, unable to prevent a feeling of yearning from filling in her soul, then she attempted to distract herself from what was happening within by asking Mihoshi, "So Doc, you know where San Diego is?"

"I don't think its anywhere near here although some of the words on your map looked familiar," Mihoshi's tone showed she caught the double meaning of Arca's words, then she brighten and gave a little giggle before adding, "but that would mean you're three-hundred-and-eleven light years off course."

The brown-feathered girl gave a hurt look to her companion while the gray-furred girl said, "Boy! That was a wrong turn at Albuquerque!"

Arca's accepting sigh brought Lita's eyes back to her companion's face, a face aglow with scarlet love while wetness was summoned forth when Arca's womanhood brushed against Lita's. The magic of the words she and Arca had spoken called to the bunny girl's heart, bringing a feeling she wanted to complete but not with a stranger watching. With half-hearted resolution the bunny girl ducked out of the bird girl's embrace and out of the access hatch, calling over her shoulder as she left, "I'll find some flying sauceress to give us a lift to San Diego!"

With just the gray tips of Lita's ears visible, Arca gave a shout, "Lita! You rascally rabbit, come back here!" a devilish grin betrayed her intent, then she looked at Mihoshi and her next words became hot at the prospect of chasing her long-eared beloved, "I'm hunting Leeee-ta!" The bronze female turned to pursue her gray friend but before her right hand yanked the hatch close, Mihoshi's sapphire eyes saw beautifully printed sky blue words on the back of her vest, "I'm a LEZ and I'm LOVED."

After a few moments of digesting this dish of bizarreness, Mihoshi gave a mental shrug and continued her climb.

Upon reaching the twentieth floor, Mihoshi's powerful legs locked around the cable as she reached into her blond curls and fished out her pink control cube. After conjuring up her Hello Kitty plushie, her spare banana yellow matching panty and bra, and her Yuko Mizutani music CD, the ebony lady was able to active the emergency door opening program which caused the elevator door opposite to her to open. Without hesitation Mihoshi gathered her legs underneath her body and sprang for the opening, where she easily cleared the shaft's five-feet gap, reaching in the middle of the corridor but found the newly waxed floor too slick to land on two feet, thus she found herself sliding into an open janitor's closet. After noise of falling buckets, mops, brooms and plastic containers subsided, Mihoshi got up from her upside-down position at the room's back wall and readied herself just in case someone heard her entrance but after intense minutes passed, she realized no one had heard her. Upon booted feet the policewoman made her way to the doorway only to freeze when her sharp ears heard the stairway door open.

"Ya! Maita naa! Korya! The suke and her dani ain't here yet da zo! (Ooh, man, yeaaah! The bitch and her ticks ain't here yet!)"

Mihoshi's body stiffed with wrath at the sound of Hitoshi Zuzushi's voice, the man directly responsible for the death of the children, for the death of Kiyone, "And this roughhousing has got my hotobozu (debauched little boy) all flushed with blood ze."

Mihoshi's skin crawled at the hungry edge of Zuzushi's words and her heart stopped when her pointy ears heard naked flesh smacked against metal, followed by an effeminate moan and then the sound of a melon bounced off the wall as the man contemptuously said, "Damare! Poriman! (Shut Up! Policewoman!)"

Mihoshi bolted from the small room, wheeled to her right and unhooked the clasp on her holster on her right hip but the words of arrest died in her throat at the sight before her. Mihoshi knew that Zuzushi was seven-feet-tall but nothing prepared her for the sight of his greenish frame towering over the much smaller body of Junko Noda, the man's massive body forced the policewoman's blue body to straddle a metal drinking fountain, her face jammed against the mosaic-covered wall by his meaty hand upon her neck, the few tattered remains of her battlesuit couldn't stop her commander's eyes from the sight of the black-and-blue bruises covering every inch of her body nor from how violently it shook as the man's enormous manhood humped her asshole.

Mihoshi let out a lioness roar as her right hand slapped leather but Zuzushi's was quick for a huge man, by the time Mihoshi was in her marksman's stance the man had swung around with his stiff right-hand holding Noda in front of him like she was a rag doll. Gasoline was added to Mihoshi's fire at the sight of the rookie's nose flat against a very swollen and cut face but worse yet was the terror in her pale blue orbs. Then Zuzushi's ice water voice put out Mihoshi's flame, "You might get me, suke, but this hime won't have her ochoko (little pussy) any more na," a metallic chick told Mihoshi that the man's left hand held a gun against Noda's back but not any ordinary gun, her sonic hearing and sharp mind could tell from the heaviness of the click that the criminal held his favorite weapon, the Diamond sixty-caliber pistol.

Mihoshi shifted her aim but Zuzushi moved Noda so the young policewoman's body would block her commander's line-of-sight, yet deep in Mihoshi's mind, she scanned the different possibilities to end this stalemate but then the blonde's blue eyes saw the gleam of hero worship replace the terror in the youth's blackened eyes and the words the rookie used, when she met her commander for the first time, filled Mihoshi's mind, "You are the officer I want to be yo wa!"

"You can't escape," hot anger in Mihoshi's voice, "the whole building is covered with sharpshooters."

"But are they good enough to keep me from blowing your mune (tits) off your chest na," then the casino vibrated and the sound of muffled explosions reached them as Zuzushi added, "those are some gifts I left behind for your men," a nasty grin appeared on his face, "I bet you knew I was the explosive expert on the robbery that killed those children and your suke partner ze?"

"Ee," Mihoshi's shifted her aim again.

"But I'll bet you don't know that the children weren't supposed to die," Zuzushi smirked as he matched her move again, "they were there to keep the keisatsu busy but my hotobozu's blood got noisy, just like he is now," with those words, Mihoshi knew this man would kill her and Noda with nefarious glee.

As Mihoshi locked down the one plan that might succeed, Zuzushi's grin took on a fiendish look as he said, "Why don't you put your gun on the floor or would you like my hotobozu to have some fun na?" the man pulled Noda's body toward him, causing a terrified screech to escape her torn lips as fresh blood flowed over the dried blood that caked her inner thighs.

The sight of her commander bending her legs as she kept her eyes on Zuzushi, caused Noda to feebly pull at what was left of her sport bra, used to tie her hands behind her back, and her panty hose, used to tie her ankles together, yet when Mihoshi lowered her gun and lay it on the ground, comprehension filled the young woman's mind as she saw how the ebony woman's legs were coiled underneath her. The rookie cop gave the veteran cop a slight nod of understanding as a single tear trek down her right cheek.

The sense of lustful power Zuzushi had been experiencing, since his killing of the male cop and the capture and rape of the female cop, crumbled into white fear as he saw the blue ice glare of defiance in the blonde's eyes, even as she pulled her right hand away from the gun on the floor. He fired.

The roar of the high caliber pistol was combined by the choked shout of agony from Noda's broken jaw as her body bucked into the air while the round blew a cone of blood, flesh and spine bone, then it slammed into Mihoshi's lower right abdomen. The bullet's impact lifted and spun the policewoman around but Zuzushi swore when he saw the battlesuit underneath Mihoshi's uniform and the small hole in the blond bombshell's side, "Yabe zensuke sofudama da ze! (Fuck all bitches' grandfather bullet!)" In a fraction of a second later fire again licked the barrel's nose.

The second shot ripped the remaining muscle and tendon of Noda's lower torso, cutting her body in half, before it hoisted Mihoshi several inches into the air as it hit her squarely in the chest. Zuzushi's eyes bulged when he still saw the policewoman's eyes burned with wrath's determination as she came down on firm legs, another small hole where the bullet hit, and he shouted as his right hand let go of Noda's neck and he switched the gun to it, "Baba enma (Hag devil!)! Why won't you die da ze?"

Zuzushi's action gave Mihoshi a chance to lunge for her gun but the half naked man expected what her goal was and so lined up for a headshot. In the instant the massive man fired, Mihoshi threw herself to right of her gun, using Noda's falling body to obscure the big man's vision as she brought her right arm up and pointed her palm at his forehead. Shock was what the green man felt when his third missile only kneecapped Mihoshi's right leg and pain was the final stimuli his brain received when a plasma beam made two neat holes in his skull. A gurgling sound and spit came from the man's mouth, the stench of shit filled the air before he dropped and sagged into a kneeling position, his eyes going dead. The aperture at the base of Mihoshi's left palm melted close.

The rage that dominated her spirit gave way to horrible self-loathing, triggered waves of nausea followed by dry heaves which kept her on hands and knees despite the pain from her own wounds, in the eight years as Kiyone's partner, neither one had killed a living being. 'Is this what Kiyone meant,' the ebony lady struggled to stop what her emotions were doing to her body, 'by how horrible it was to take another's life?'

"Kai . . . cho . . . " Mihoshi heard Noda's whispered words.

With that one utterance, Mihoshi's own moral problem was banished from her mind and her kind spirit came boldly forward, without hesitation she painfully crawled over to what remained of the GP apprentice. With her right hand, Mihoshi combed the crippled girl's black hair out her eyes, saying, "I'm going to get the medievac unit."

"Iie . . . don't . . . move . . . " Noda fought the pain to make her words clear, "you're . . . hurt"

Mihoshi pulled off her uniform's fuzzy ball from her hip, which automatically changed into her pink cube and with a few twists she activated the emergency transponder. Next a quick visual inspection of her own wounds showed Mihoshi that her battlesuit and the sturdiness of her GPCB body had limited her damage to a temporary loss of the mobility of her right leg, the lessening of the stimulated pain told her the nanobots were at work. With professional demeanor the blond started to say, "My right leg is out so we got to stabilize your life functions until . . . " but Mihoshi's words are stopped when Noda's left hand covered her commander's mouth.

"There is . . . no blood . . . in my veins . . . " the light in Noda's eyes seemed to appear, disappear and then reappear as her hand dropped back down, "I'm . . . already . . . dead . . . "

Deep in her own mind, in her own heart, Mihoshi knew Noda was right but it didn't stop her from saying, "I've got to get you to . . . "

"Don't . . . " Noda struggled against the pain in her body, "My ki . . . is the only thing . . . left of me . . . please . . . just . . . keep me . . . company . . . "

Bending to the need she saw in Noda's face and to the truth in Noda's plea, Mihoshi carefully knelt behind the girl's head, picked it up tenderly and moved her lap underneath it. There was a little gasp of pain from the young lady's lips but she smiled before saying, "Domo . . . arigato . . . gozaimasu," then she asked, "Did . . . you . . . stop . . . Zuzu . . . shi . . . "

"Hai, we did, Junko-san," Mihoshi agreed as she used her cube to summon a bottle of water which she used to dampen her green handkerchief and start to clean the filth from Noda's face, a face voted, Most Cute, at the GP Academy.

"Tell . . . me . . . about . . . your . . . first . . . case . . . " a sleepy tone to Noda's voice.

Mihoshi gave the face in her lap a heartbroken smile, she knew her and Kiyone's first case was required reading at the GP Academy. With sunshine shining through the clouds of her soul, she told of the case, "I and Kiyone were assigned as partners, fresh out of the Academy. This is very unusual since rookie officers are supposed to learn the ropes from veteran officers but I think Ojiisama was responsible for it because he knew how well we worked together, and our recovery of the Pirouette Collection proved it."

Six minutes later, Detective First Class Maki Terashima reached the staircase door to the twentieth floor. Acting as point man, Terashima waited for his other two teammates to join him before checking the door for booby traps, they had already lost three officers who were killed and fourteen wounded by such devices. It took less than a minute of electronic detection to make sure the door was clear before the sandy-haired officer opened it. In the blood-splattered hallway they found the barely marked dead body of Hitoshi Zuzushi. Nearby was Commodore Mihoshi Kuramitsu, her entire body covered with dried blood spots, with the head of Detective Apprentice Junko Noda in her lap, the young woman's peaceful white face covered by pink tears dripping from the rivers flowing from the commander's eyes, the ebony lady's broken voice said, "Everyone praised me . . . for solving our first case . . . but it was Kiyone . . . Kiyone . . . "

At the same moment Katsuhito knelt next to his telephone with the receiver next to his ear as he spoke English words into the sender, "I'm glad to find this an easy problem for you, Gill."

"For the man who helped fund the building of our hospital," a man's voice came over the receiver, "it's no trouble at all."

"But still, won't these altered police records get you, the Chief of Police, in a very messy scandal?" concern in the elder's words.

"Not when everyone involved in those cases want the changes," Gill countered with surety.

"Including Miss Drew?" a doubtful tone in the priest's voice.

"Especially, Nancy," reassurance in Gill's voice, "she's coming out of Harvard this year and she doesn't want either snoopy reporters or suspicious clients to find out how much help she's been to law enforcement in River Heights."

"Then I must thank you for your willingness to do this for me," relief in Katsuhito's words.

"Kats, every person who didn't have to travel the twisting roads to Duluth to get quality medical care, owes you a debt," Gill's praise rang truthfully, "maybe their lives too."

"Again I thank you for doing this for me," friendship in elder Masaki's voice.

"There is one question, Kats," Gill's voice becoming serious, "this Mihoshi Kuramitsu, she isn't afraid of water."

"I don't believe so," uncertainty in Katsuhito's response.

"Good, Good," Gill returned, "With so many lakes and rivers around here, it wouldn't make sense for a hydrophobic police officer to start their career in River Heights."

"Are you sure her being black or having a Japanese name won't cause any problems?" again doubts touched the elder's words.

"Forty years ago they would've," Gill's voice remained strong, "but not today. I've got a Eurasian rookie working for me right now."

Satisfied with the last answer, Katsuhito said, "I'll send you the necessary information to the fax number you gave me, you should get it by noon your time."

Just then a loud thump came from the shrine office's door. 

"Ara?" Katsuhito looked over his shoulder at the source of the noise but saw nothing but then his red eyes caught sight of the floppy-eared cabbit phase through the sliding door.

"Miya! Miya! Miya! Miya!" Ryo-ohki cried as she ran to the old priest.

"Gill, I've got something to take care of," Katsuhito told his American friend, "so take care of yourself."

"You too, Kats," Gill's voice full of friendship, "I'll be waiting for your fax."

Katsuhito put the phone on its hook just as Ryo-ohki jumped up next to the black telephone and continued her cry, "Miya! Miya! Miya! Miya!"

Seeing the distress in the cabbit's amber eyes, Katsuhito bounded up and turned to the door. The little gray animal shot between his wiry legs only to once again thud and roll from the door. If the urgency of the moment hadn't filled the senior's mind, he would have smiled at the cabbit's forgetfulness but his ears heard a self-disgusted growl come from the furry critter, who shot out the room as soon as elder opened the door a few inches.

Only a few feet behind Ryo-ohki, Katsuhito followed her over the shrine's moonlit courtyard toward the entrance, where his vision saw something was leaning against the stone fence. When his greater gait brought him next to the cabbit as they were ten feet from the kneeling form, he noted the cloud of hair upon the head and the shaking of the body. As the distance closed to five feet the priest's steps took on extra speed as he saw the body start fall forward.

Mihoshi's body twisted in its beginning descent, flexes of liquid gems came from her closed eyes to surround her head, her lips crying a silent scream. With lightning decision Katsuhito leaped down the first steps, turned in the air and sprang left so to catch the policewoman's falling form. The priest let out a gasp of surprise, at the unexpected weight of the officer, as his arms and chest caught her. The momentum this additional equation broke the firmness of the priest's stance and sent him and his package backwards. Using the kinetic energy instead of fighting it, Katsuhito bent his legs down and jumped high into the air.

Ryo-ohki stood at the top of stairs and watched with hope as Tenchi grandfather's leap over the granite steps carried him and Mihoshi twenty feet up the air and away from the little animal. Centuries of training and living in this place allowed the lean man to lightly set down on one of the stairs' rest landings, one hundred and fifty feet below the crest.

Katsuhito made his way back up the stairs as he held the weeping Mihoshi, his mind wishing to know why such a beautiful star was tortured by joyless pain. Halfway into the climb the policewoman's sobs lessened as she unconsciously drew comfort from his gentle embrace, then they ended completely as a tiny smile touched her red lips and she sighed with gentleness, "Kiyone."

When Katsuhito reached the steps where he caught the ebony lady, Mihoshi drowsily opened her eyes and blinked several times before she realized the person holding her was Tenchi's grandfather. Scarlet flushed her cheeks as she said in a confused voice, "Ano . . . Ara . . . "

Katsuhito allowed a few seconds to pass before calmly saying, "You came close to taking a tumble down these stone steps."

Mihoshi's blue orbs reached new dimensions as the elder priest's words penetrated her confusion and she squealed, "OYA, MAA!"

When Katsuhito reached the shrine's courtyard, Ryo-Ohki danced with joy around his feet as he carefully put Mihoshi on her own feet, the blond bombshell repeatedly said while switching back and forth between English and Nihongo, "I'm . . . Gomen . . . so . . . nasai . . . sorry . . . "

"That's oke, Miho-san," amusement in Katsuhito's voice and face, "at my age, it's not often I get the chance to catch and hold a bishojo hoshi (a beautiful girl star), especially one so kakko no ii (well-shaped)."

Mihoshi giggled as Katsuhito's playful compliment banished away her embarrassment, then she bent down and Ryo-ohki hopped into her long-fingered hands while the elder priest asked, "Ima, what good fortune has brought you to the Masaki-jinja at such a late hour?"

"Dewa . . . " Mihoshi was uncertain if she should intrude upon the priest's time but then she noted the good-natured tone of his question, so she asked, "Seto-dono and Sasami-chan are busy with Ayeka-san's ritual of adulthood and Tenchi-san is studying, so Ryo-ohki and I came to see if we could have some ocha with you?"

"I would be delighted to have two fine ladies as guests at my home," Katsuhito said with a positive tone.

"Great!" Mihoshi said in English.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki added her support.

"I even have some ninjins," Katsuhito added as he walked by the policewoman so he could lead the way.

"MIYA!" Ryo-ohki launched herself from Mihoshi's cupped hands, landed on the slightly startled priest's firm right shoulder, where she proceeded to vigorously rub his cheek with her furry head.

Katsuhito reached up with right hand and scratched the area just behind the cabbit's big ears, sending the little animal into a bountiful purr. When the three reached the sliding door to his office/home and the priest opened the door with his left hand, he said to Mihoshi, "Actually, I'm glad you came, Miho-san."

"Oi?" a little puzzlement in Mihoshi's voice.

"Hai, a friend of mine in Amerika has agreed to create a cover story for you," Katsuhito stepped aside so Mihoshi could go in first, "to further your mission here in my homeworld."

"And you need a few facts about me for his files and the resume?" Mihoshi's guessed.

"Tadshii," Katsuhito took them over to a chabudai where an electric pot of hot water and a saucer of carrot sticks awaited them. Once her amber orbs caught sight of the orange twigs, Ryo-ohki dropped onto the low table where it took all of her willpower to wait for the tanned man to fish out another cup for Mihoshi from a small blue cabinet. Once the two humans knelt down at opposite sides and the priest gave the cabbit a slight nod, Ryo-ohki started to reduce the stack of sticks. Mihoshi looked about the room as Tenchi's grandfather poured the streaming water over the green tea leaves in the strainer, then he cleared his throat which caught Mihoshi's attention, "Since you are a citizen of the United States, we need to get you used to speaking Eigo (English) like a native, so the rest of our conversation will be in that language na?"

"Yip!" Mihoshi's gave an enthusiastic answer as she accepted the cup from Katsuhito's worn hand.

"Let's start with a simple question," the priest took a slip of his tea before finishing his words, "what are your measurements?"

"Height, five-feet-six-inches, weight, three . . . eh . . . one-hundred-and-eighty-nine-pounds," Katsuhito could tell from carrying the woman that this wasn't the blonde's true weight but chalked it up to female vanity, "blood type O, hips' thirty-three, waist twenty-two, chest thirty-four-double-D."

Katsuhito wiped his mustache to hide his smile while saying, "You know you don't need to tell people anything beyond your height and weight?"

"I know but because so many men and some women ask for them," innocence in Mihoshi's eyes after she took a sip of her own tea, "I've included them."

"You might want to be more careful who you tell," Katsuhito calmly said as he offered to refill Mihoshi's cup, "Some people might get the wrong impression."

"That's what Kiyone used to tell me," a contemplated look on her ebony face as she held out her cup, "although they seem to have the right impression after they talked to her in private."

The remembrance that name conjured brought a happy look into Mihoshi's face while Katsuhito asked, "So what is your age?"

"Seventy-eight," Mihoshi replied absentmindedly.

The old priest caught himself from accepting the statement blandly and so he countered, "You don't look that old?"

Puzzlement caused by the gray-haired man's words was short for the blond bombshell realized her mistake, "Oh, I'm sorry, I gave my age in Galactic Time!"

"So you would be . . . " the man in priestly grab left the question hanging.

"Umm . . . I would be thirty-one in Earth years," then a new thought entered Mihoshi's mind, "You know the different measurement systems of this planet can be really confusing, almost everyone uses a system based on the number ten while the dominating culture on this planet uses a system based on the size of a particular man's foot or the distance between the same man's outstretched right thumb and his right eye."

"It's only been in the last one-hundred years the United States and its culture has become a factor," Katsuhito informed Mihoshi, "before many other cultures have risen and fallen as the major force on this world."

"I'm probably just use to having Jurai and Seniwa as the controlling cultures in the Galactic Union for the last twenty-thousand-years," then Mihoshi's eyes reached saucer size and put her hand to her lips before saying, "Ops, please ignore what I just said."

"Don't worry, Mihoshi," amusement was in Katsuhito's voice, "my lips are sealed."

"Miya?" a disappointed tone in Ryo-ohki's voice.

Without missing a beat, Katsuhito reached under the table and produced another plate of carrot sticks to replace the empty dish, much to the little animal's delight. As the floppy-eared creature munched away, Mihoshi confidently asked, "Is there anything else you need to know?"

"I need a reason for you coming such a great distance to continue your law enforcement career," Katsuhito quietly replied. "A person usually doesn't make such a dramatic move unless they have a very personal reason," Katsuhito focused on Mihoshi's face as he continued, "a scandal of some kind or maybe the death of a partner, lover or spouse," the weathered man saw Mihoshi's physical pain at the last part before he added, "What reasons do you think we should give?"

Katsuhito saw the clash of emotions in Mihoshi's face before something clicked in her sapphire eyes and she told him with a crackle in her voice, "Tell them . . . Tell them I'm here because the place where I once worked, where I once lived, contained too many painful memories of the loss of the owner of my heart."

"This Kiyone person," Katsuhito guessed, then added when Mihoshi looked at him with surprise, "You said her name while I was carrying you and when you mentioned her earlier, there was a brightness in your voice when you said her name."

With steel in her soul, Mihoshi looked down as she waited for Katsuhito's words of contempt and outrage, over her declaration of a lover's passion for someone of the same gender, but as minutes passed only the sound of Ryo-ohki's joyful chomps touch her pointy ears. Looking back up, the blond only found the priest drinking his tea with satisfaction. With tentativeness she asked, "You aren't bothered by the way I live my life?"

"No, I'm not," Katsuhito replied as he refilled both his and Mihoshi's cups, "Shinto teaches that our soul is made of yin and yang, male and female, darkness and light. This mix is what makes each person a unique individual, the balance between these two things is where happiness is found. It is not my place to deny that other cultures beyond this small planet haven't found the path to contentment, to oneness with God."

Mihoshi let out a sigh of relief then love filled her face as she said, "I think Kiyone would be happy if your friends found a way to let her help in giving my mission a chance to succeed."

"I'm very sure they will find a way," Katsuhito aloud a touch of warmth in his voice.

"Thanks, you're sweet," Mihoshi bounced onto her feet, leaned over the low table and brushed her full lips upon Katsuhito's right cheek. On light feet the blond bombshell turned one-eighty and pranced her way to the door while calling over her shoulder in Nihongo, "I hear Nobuyuki-san's van pulling in!"

Stunned and unable to keep a blush from his cheeks, Katsuhito watched the streaming purple hair ribbon match its owner's gaiety, but his heart stopped when she turned back to him while she slid the door open, then she innocently said, "For an honorable elder you have such a soft cheek. Oyasumi!"

It took minutes after the sounds of the closed door, the fast steps on the stone pathway and Ryo-ohki's second attempt to pass through the door to join her departed friend, before Katsuhito could say with regret, "If only I wore a younger man's clothes." It took a few more minutes to make him wonder how Mihoshi had heard the van.

**********

Masaki Residence

The sound of the van's door closing momentarily interrupted the night's symphony but Nobuyuki didn't notice its absence for both his heart and mind where electrified with success. Afterward he took an evening walk in the park surrounding the Seigan Temple, his heart was joyful, his mind was uplifted and his soul at peace because over the time that separated them, Achika had told him and Scully she wanted them together, she didn't want either of them to be alone. Once he reached the front door, the black-haired man slid the front door open but before he could announce his arrival, a woman's war cry greeted his ears, "CHIKAN!"

"Now what got Ayeka-san so upset?" Nobuyuki's mumbled, then a new thought brightened his face, 'Maybe Tenchi tried to smooch her?' On quick feet the middle-aged man went up the stairs, with only a short stop on the second floor to grab his camcorder from his room, to see if his son had done something to be proud of. Upon reaching the third floor, the man slowed to make no noise and lay down on the last steps so only his head and the camcorder was visible to anyone on that level. The first thing his mind noted was how the floor was littered with the candles he had given Sasami, some of them rolling in random directions, then his eyes caught the sight of his unconscious son spread eagle on the hard wood floorboards with a nude Ayeka kneeling next to him. A zoom later showed the shocked look of horror in the princess' eyes with clutched hands at her mouth and a crimson blush that went from the roots of her purple hair down to her pink nipples. In another moment a pair of shapely legs entered the picture, so Tenchi's father adjusted his lens to get a full view of the newcomer. His brown eyes went wide and he bit his lower lip to keep a wolf whistle from coming out as he saw the perfection of Seto's body as she leaned over her granddaughter to get a better view of the knocked out boy, her bouncy breasts such lovely visions, then the oldest princess said, "It's oke, Oujo-chan, he's still breathing."

Nobuyuki was getting an eye full but cold water was splashed on his good time when Sasami came out, still wearing only her birthday suit. With sternness of mind, knowing some things should remain proper, the tanned man ducked down, then made a loud clearing of his throat before calling out, "If some people would put some clothes on, I could check on my musuko to see if we need to get him to a doctor."

"Come, Sasami!" mortification in Ayeka's tone as one set of feet fled back into the princess' room, followed by a child's light tread. In a minute, they both returned while Ayeka voiced, "Here, obasama."

"Arigato," Nobuyuki could tell from Seto's tone that the oldest princess wasn't a bit embarrassed by the situation.

"Nobuyuki-san, you can come up now," Ayeka called out.

Smiling Nobuyuki stood up and stepped onto the third floor, with his camcorder hanging from its strap but with the lens pointed at the three princess and his son, the record button pushed down. Ayeka's purple robe was tightly bound around her body, Sasami's light blue robe was properly tied to her preteen body, while Seto's yellow robe hung loosely on her tall body, revealing a little of her earthy treasure, Ayeka saw her grandmother's casualness but kept silent her opinion about it. With a slight grin on his face, Nobuyuki asked, "So, what did my musuko do to gain such a blow?"

"Atashi warui, Nobuyuki-san," Ayeka gave an ashamed bow as the man knelt next to his son, "I . . . I overreacted when he opened the door to our room and . . . I . . . " Ayeka's ruby eyes glanced at the weapons of her rage, "threw these at him."

"I think Tenchi-niichan thought our room was on fire," Sasami supplied while giving her sister's left hand a confronting squeeze with her right hand.

"It seems no one told him about the ritual," Seto's smile matched the music of her words.

Finding Tenchi reacting to his touch of the back of his son's neck, Nobuyuki gave his son a light slap before saying, "Get up segare or do I need to offer you some water?"

"Is it safe?" a thread of suspicion in Tenchi's question.

"I don't think anyone going to drop the hammer on you," a good-natured tone in Nobuyuki's tone.

Tenchi opened his eyes as he reached behind his neck to rub the place where Ayeka's waxy missile had found its mark, then he asked, "Ima, what's this about a ritual?"

"So you weren't really hurt, Tenchi-niichan?" Sasami asked.

"Iie, Sasami-chan, I was playing dead," then puzzlement came into his next words at the disappointed look on Sasami's face, "you sound disappointed, Naze no?"

"I wanted to take care of you," Sasami pouted, "make you feel all better."

With a small smile Ayeka squeezed her sister's little fingers while saying, "But Sasami, you do that every day for all of us."

"Hai, Ayeka-san is right," Tenchi added as he came to his knees, "you don't need me hurt to make me feel better," he tousled the little one's blue curls, causing her cheeks to blush in modesty.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki's one word came from the stairs as she leaped into sight followed closely by quick footed Mihoshi, who said as she saw the strewn about candles, "Do shimashita?"

"Just a simple misunderstanding, keisatsukan," Seto told Mihoshi.

Showing no outward evidence of catching the hidden meaning in her godmother's reply, Mihoshi said, "A domestic disturbance ne," a mock authority in her tone, "I'm going to need to file a report with headquarters," confusion reigned on Tenchi's, Nobuyuki's and Ayeka's face while Seto's grinned and Sasami just looked on with curiosity, then Mihoshi ordered, "we will go down into the living room where I'll question the participants and the witnesses," at last she added as she looked straight at Nobuyuki, "Did your camcorder record the incident?"

"Only the last few minutes," Nobuyuki's voice had a dramatic tone as he caught onto what Seto and Mihoshi were doing, Ayeka's face became beet red at what Nobuyuki admission truly meant while Sasami couldn't stop her body from shaking with a case of the giggles.

"Otousan!" Tenchi shouted at his father as he got to his feet.

"A man must have a hobby, Tenchi-san," Seto came to Nobuyuki's defense before asking, "I wonder if you have any film of Tenchi-san with his okasama."

"Hai, would you like to see them?" Nobuyuki's face glowed with delight.

"Ee, I do," Seto's nodded.

"I would like to see it," Ayeka's anger now replaced with her own inquisitiveness.

"Me too," Sasami added, not wanting to be left out.

"Gu, a wide grin on Nobuyuki's face, "I'll set up the projector in the living room.

At first Tenchi groaned inwardly at his father opening up his film collection but it was quickly replaced by a feeling, compulsion, to once more see his mother's happy face. So with a little hesitation, the youth volunteered, "Otousan, I'll set up the screen."

"Ikasu, segare!" new joy joined old joy in Nobuyuki's heart for his son wanted to do something with his father.

The princesses and Tenchi followed the older man as he headed for the stairs, while Mihoshi looked down at Ryo-ohki before saying, "I think I don't need to file a report, ne?"

"Miya," approval in the cabbit's reply.

"Ne ne, let's go watch the film," Mihoshi told the floppy eared creature, "I want to see Ten-san's okasama."

"Miya," agreement in the furry critter's tone, both quickly caught up with the rest.

**********

Matsumoto Rail Station

Light winds and floating snowflakes filled all entrances and exits to the rail station, but the cold they brought couldn't dispel the giddy joy or the barking laughter that came from the two foreigners, arms around the other's shoulders, who just entered the building. Ryoko was once again cyan-haired and amber-eyed and Mulder used his weight to keep both liquid spirits and soulful spirit from making his companion's body float. Ignoring the stares and frowns that some people were giving, Ryoko said in a teasing voice, "and I thought you were going to die when you put that first piece of sushi in your mouth."

"You noticed how quick I was to wash it down with the old man's booze?" Mulder accepted his companion's jest.

"Yeah," Ryoko's right hand reached over to flick Mulder's nose, "you were the first one to get roaring drunk."

"I'm not roaring drunk!" mock anger in Mulder's retort, "just a little tipsy." 

"A little?" Ryoko's flushed face just a few greater degrees less than Mulder's.

"Okay, a lot," grinning resignation on Mulder's face, "Satisfied?"

"Yip," Ryoko replied before changing the subject, "You still got your ticket?"

"Just point me in the right direction," Mulder squared his shoulders, which made Ryoko's smile bigger, "How about you?" the American added.

"I'll ride the top of the train," Ryoko's amber eyes soften at Mulder's concerned tone, "on my way home."

"So we part for now?" Mulder suddenly felt a surge of longing in his heart.

"For now," Ryoko leaned up to kiss Mulder's right cheek, only to find Mulder had turned his head and met her lips with his.

Surprise blew through Ryoko's drunken haze, her eyes fired with confusion, before her heart filled with delight and her spirit with self-esteem, delight that a man who knew who and what she was still wanted to steal a kiss from her, self-esteem because here was one more person willing to accept her as a human being.

As their lips part, Ryoko saw guilt ruled Mulder's pale green eyes matched by his tone of voice, "I'm sorry, Ryoko. I shouldn't have . . . "

"Don't be," Ryoko interrupted Mulder's apology as she pressed her right hand's index and middle fingers together, kissed their tips and then touched them to Mulder's lips, "let this be the way we part, a kiss of friendship."

The forgiving warmth of Ryoko's words brought a shameful smile to Mulder's face, so he nodded his head before he too, performed the same act with own right hand and pressed the kissed tips to her soft lips.

"Now get going," Ryoko gave Mulder a playful shove in the general direction of Mulder's train.

On stumbling feet Mulder stepped toward his destination before he heard Ryoko call out to him. Pausing and half-turning his body, Mulder said, "What?"

"I meant to ask if you knew where the remains of Ayeka's ship were taken?" Ryoko asked.

"Ayeka's ship?" barely able to think through the alcohol fog and not catching the sly tone in Ryoko's request, Mulder continued, "I think they were taken to a warehouse near the Makuhari Messe Exhibition Grounds," it took a moment for Mulder's brain to notice how contrary this question was to Ryoko's earlier mood, "Why?"

"Ayeka wanted to know," Ryoko had to bite her tongue to keep a Cheshire Cat's grin from her face.

"Oh," a glassy tone in Mulder's return before he turned back to resume his trek to his ride to Tokyo.

"Bye-bye," Ryoko waved at him.

Mulder waved back without turning around.

After Mulder disappeared from her sight, Ryoko frowned as she thought about the plan she had come up with before concluding to herself, "I'll do it tomorrow night," a wicked grin appeared on her lips, "I've been away from my Tenchi too long," then a fond look sweetened her grin, "besides Sasami-chan sounded awfully worried about me."

After a quick glance left and right to make sure no one was looking at her, Ryoko's ample body faded away.

**********

Soja

Once again in her loneliness, Washu's wait for Tsunami's action caused her soul to travel back to yesterday, to a time only a month after Seto had left Washu, when she began the first phase of her new experiment started. The little redhead originally believed that getting the grant money from the Galactic Union would take longer but, because of Dr.Clay's forced resignation from the Galaxy Academy over his treatment of his students, she inherited his grant money. The requirements to use the grant were fairly straightforward: (1) the development of an artificial biological body with a brain that could be imprinted with already developed consciousness, (2) the body needed to withstand the extremes of heat, cold and vacuum, (3) the body had to have a combat mode and (4) the body had to able to repair massive damage to itself.

Washu's eyes reflected the shine of the new equipment in her lab that her words matched, "So they want a better police officer," her hands rubbed together in that classic mad scientist's cliché, "they won't know that my pound of flesh will be a new family."

Washu summoned her transparent computer and her purple pillow, sat on the floating pillow and then let her fingers type in the first command, still muttering to herself, "My colleagues didn't even try for the grant, they saw only the improbabilities of success and not the greatest of the achievement."

With the order finished, Washu got off her pillow, walked toward a large ergonomic examination table, with her pillow and computer followed her. The woman-child stood next to the table while she took off her clothes and placed them on the hovering cushion. Holding the feeling of purpose in her heart, she closed her emerald eyes to the pain of the past and willed her body to take on its adult form. A little caught breath was all the girl-child's reaction as she felt her bones and muscles grow, her breasts go from buds to blooms, her genitalia go from preteen bareness to dark cherry pubic hair. With a clinical gaze, the little scientist checked herself for any mistakes in the transformation before saying, "Not bad for a fifteen-thousand-year-old body," then she hopped onto and lay down in the middle of the table, with determination she pushed the start button on her computer.

Washu closed her eyes as the table's cool metal became mercurial, her body sank as the liquid metal flowed over and filled every part of her womanly body, only by her nostrils did air filled her lungs. The metal warmed to human body temperature, which made it feel like a living thing to Washu. Washu knew she could use more medical means to get an egg from her ova but the natural way was the safest way, 'Besides, this is more fun,' the bit of mirth lightened Washu's mood, then the sensation of a light kiss upon her lips came, followed by an upward caress upon her right ribs and a message of her left ass cheek. Soon Washu's body repeatedly shivered from the physical touches upon it, a sensual sigh opened her mouth, which allowed a tongue-like projectile to move between her parted lips to dance with her tongue. When a penis-shaped tube pushed between her swollen vaginal lips, moved down her slick vaginal tunnel and entered her dilated uterus, Washu's body bucked in multiple orgasm. Upon sensing that Washu had ovulated, the tube's front end opened, gently siphoned in the newly created ovum and carefully pulled out. The liquid metal pushed a panting Washu to the surface before it solidified underneath her perspiring body.

Still trying to catch her breath, the woman slowly rolled of the left side of the table but needed to lean against the metal object to compensate for her unsteady legs. After unmeasured time passed, Washu finally opened her eyes and showed a green glee through her red hair plastered to her flushed face, then with an enthusiastic pump of her right fist, her lips shouted, "Perfect! I haven't hit six in ages!" Washu typed on her computer's keyboard which produced a red towel from a subspace hole, "That was better than the Peter Gunn Ultimate." The woman briskly rubbed the sweat and the vaginal juices from her body while she added, "I should've invented it ages ago, now I don't have to take a cold shower whenever a student pinches my gluteus maximus." 

Washu put on her evergreen panties and bra before punching in a command on the transparent keyboard to summon a cherry red housecoat with a crab emblem on the back. Quickly the redhead moved to a machine that contained a three-foot oval birthing chamber along with a microscopic surgical chamber. The scientist's fingers gave quick strokes on the machine's keyboard to summon an image of the ovum on a 3D display. Washu's eyes locked on the 3D image as her right hand used a control ball to maneuver a tiny hollow needle through the ova's membrane, through the cytoplasm and into the nucleus. When the tool penetrated the nucleoli, Washu's left hand activated the needle's vacuum, which removed the chromatin. A second tap of the same key stopped the vacuum but the lady scientist's right hand hovered over two keys, two desires warring in a mental conflict, the key marked X would place in the nucleoli the chromosomes of her dead female friend, Akara Naja, while the key marked Y would place an altered form of her friend's chromosomes, designed to produce a male version of her beloved friend. Yet deep in her soul the anger at those, who have taken everything from her, ended the hesitation and brought her finger down on the Y key as she yelled, "Let the walls of status CRACK! Let them TOPPLE and FALL! No privileged noble's sneer at my child's gender will bar his GENIUS! He will TAKE what is his natural RIGHT to have!"

Washu's face burned with righteous fire as her hard eyes watched the needle inject the modified chromosomes and retreat out of the ovum, then a gentle current moved the human egg into the birthing chamber, where Washu used a magnification scope to watch as ovum's membrane thickened and the nuclear membrane disappears and the chromosomes are released and move into the equatorial plane, in the next twelve minutes each chromosome split longitudinally into two daughter chromosomes, then one set of daughter chromosomes moved to one pole while the other set moved to the other pole, finally a groove encircled the equator of the compact mass within the ovum and pinched it into two daughter cells.

Washu was satisfied with the way her great experiment was working without a hitch, so she whirled around to head for her living quarters but her first two steps sent her body crashing into the floor. The two imps, Bafflement and Confusion, batted her brain around like a ping-pong ball before she realized her body had unconsciously changed to its child-woman guise and her preteen legs fowled by her adult size housecoat.

It was at this point a shiver run though her being as her spirit awoke from its remembrance, her subconscious mind once again showed her how her past decision had created her present but what mattered right now, to the redhead held within her crystal prison, was the shiver told her that Tsunami was moving through Funaho-Ki. Quickly Washu's consciousness reached out and grabbed the caboose of the goddess' train, a silent prayer in the redhead's heart that the Jurain deity wouldn't detect a hobo riding her.

********

Tomoki Gaijin House, Tokyo

Scully knocked on Mulder's hotel room door but got no response, she really didn't expect to get one since the train trip to Matsumoto would by itself take six hours. The redhead walked to her own apartment, thinking, 'if Mulder did succeed and leased the room, the Hideyuki family will do the typical Nihonjin thing and invite him and Ryoko to dinner, maybe even a few drinks afterwards,' a rueful smile appeared on her lips as she put her key in the lock and turned it, 'I wonder how much sake it took to wash the raw fish taste out of his mouth, let along remember which hotel he's staying in?'

Scully left her brief case on her reading desk as she made her way to the bathroom. In the shower the perfumed soap removed the still lingering odor of smoke from her nude body and the hot water purified her mind of the dead face that belonged to the body she autopsied today. With that image gone, new ones and their emotional baggage soon followed. Ryoko in a pink business suit was unexpected development and Scully knew the cyan-haired woman enjoyed the deception she pulled on the American agents' Nihonjin compatriots but she was a great aid to them at the crime scene and gave valuable insight on the Yakuza witnesses, still the redhead doubted the amber-eyed woman would make a return performance. The next image that came visiting her was more tactile than sight, the feeling of Nobuyuki's lips against hers and brush of his mustache against her nose. When she turned off the shower, the last impression that came to her mind was three voices saying the words of an oath and Achika's smiling face.

Once Scully dried her body and put on her tan bathrobe, she made her way to the reading desk, opened her brief case, took out her flattop computer and sat on a thinly padded chair. While the machine booted up, Scully organized her autopsy report in her head, 'Name: Hyakutaku Shigeru, Age: 23, Height: 5 feet 6 inches, Weight: 156 lbs., Eyes: Black, Hair: Black. The victim was found on a bed in a soapland hotel, The North Forty Ranch. Because most of the soft tissue of the body's trunk was cooked or consumed by what appeared to be spontaneous combustion, identification of cause of death can't be conclusively determined, especially since the head, arms, legs, hands and feet show only physical trauma caused by the spontaneous combustion, nor do the bones of the spine, hip and ribcage show any physical trauma.'

Scully added the necessary technical information and finished her report at which point she looked at the clock next to her bed, 10:20 p.m., and decided to turn in early since her experience with the X-Flies told her she wouldn't get too many chances for a goodnight's sleep. After Scully's redhead touched her pillow, her breath slowed and her mind started to empty of daylight thoughts, she once again felt the kisses she shared this day and the love behind them.

********

Amagasaki Railway Station

The stationmaster nodded as his pocket watch showed the bullet train arrived at Amagasaki Railway Station at 10:25 p.m., right on schedule, unnoticed by the forty-year veteran was the lady, who sat cross-legged just above the engineer's window, her body huddled in a thick white fur coat and a matching cap pulled down to the nap of her neck with tufts of cyan hair sticking out. "Why . . . why does . . . frosty . . . air . . . bother . . . me so . . . much?" Ryoko's chattering teeth broke up her question. In her memory were images of her flying through frozen comets, radiation soaked space and gargantuan solar flares yet since her release from the cave, her skin grew goose pimples whenever icy damp air touched her. Her face scowled with suspicion that this physical reaction was the vestige of her imprisonment in the ice-cold mountain water of her cave, a divine reminder to be a good uchu kaizoku, yet the cold couldn't stop her whole being from feeling of exultation caused by the speed of the train, the thrill of flight's freedom.

The stationmaster checked the normal mix of tired businessmen, partying youths and night workers but his eyes caught sight of two women dressed in costumes, who entered the women's only passenger car. 'Probably a mother and her musume coming from the big Halloween party being held by the Takarazuka troupe,' the salt-and-pepper-haired man thought.

Rumiko was thoroughly enjoying MacClean's performance and couldn't stop her giggles whenever a new woman would glance the redhead's way, his momentary cat-in-the-dog-show look like the one on his face right now, was priceless. The woman-clothed man took a sideward peek before he whispered to the woman in the Captain Harlock costume, "You're really enjoying yourself, Rumiko-oneesan?"

"Ya! maita nee (Oh, girl, yeah!)!" laughter in Rumiko's tone, "Especially when Miruku-san got you in that corner and gave you a full-bodied hug wa yo!"

"You couldn't see what her hands were doing to atashi no oshiri (my bottom)," for a moment MacClean's words held the shock he felt when it happened, then he grimaced and bounced up a little when the before mentioned part of his anatomy touched the seat he absentmindedly sat on, he resumed his seat as he muttered, "Atasi wa shippeta marude omou o sawatta donoi onna mo wa (My buns feel like every woman there groped them)."

"That's what you get for being such a bishojo ne," merriment increased in Rumiko's response to MacClean's words.

"I forgot how make-believe combined with high spirits can release our true selves," MacClean grumbled.

"Now isn't that one monkey laughing at the other monkey's bottom," Rumiko teased MacClean for she saw him in other disguises do the same acts.

"Obviously I'm not going to get any sympathy from you, oneesan," MacClean stuck his tongue out at his friend.

"Just remember what happens to every kawaii ojosan, who rides the morning train," her scarred face had a knowing look.

"That's why God gave women high heels," MacClean retorted but without sharpness. The music of Rumiko's giggles came again and soon their magic had MacClean joining her, to every woman in the car who saw them, they were an odd couple but a happy pair, a young redheaded woman in a nurse's white uniform and an older, shorter black-haired woman in a Captain Harlock costume, both leaning against the others' shoulder like old friends.

"I noticed everyone asked where you got the earring," delight in Rumiko's black eyes as her right hand's fingers played with the tiny gold crosses hanging from it, "some even thought you're a Kirisuto-chan (little Christ)."

"Just as long as they don't call me an arsonist," MacClean countered Rumiko's purposeful mispronunciation, which brought more grins and giggles from the two.

Once both calmed down MacClean's said with seriousness, "I'm going have to leave you at the front door, oneesan."

"Naze no, Antoine-chan?" Rumiko couldn't keep her disappointment from her words.

"I've got to pick something up from the Masaki's van," MacClean knew what it meant when Rumiko used the -chan honorific with his name.

"Duty calls?" more of a statement than a question by Rumiko.

"Every walk in the sun must be paid for by a run under the moon," unspoken but clear to Rumiko was MacClean's gentle decline.

"I'm jealous, Antoine-oneesan," Rumiko tried to hide her soulful pain under bravo.

"I know, oneesan," a little sadness mixed with MacClean's smile, "I can see your horns."

"Meanie," Rumiko's sulky tone was made false when she rested her head on MacClean's padded chest and hugged his waist with her right arm, soon her breathing was in rhythm with the heart she listened to. With care both of MacClean's hands locked fingers together so to give his friend a protective embrace, the man knowing that the woman was telling him she could accept what they had.

********

Masaki Residence

Black and white images flicked on the silver screen, images of the past told of people, who have grown older or have moved onto another plain of existence. They watched Nobuyuki's home movies with such focused attention upon the two-dimensional people that an unnoticed Katsuhito entered the room and sat on the couch next to Mihoshi. With his breath touching her right ear, the old priest says, "I need a photograph of you and Kiyone-sama."

Mihoshi didn't take her eyes off the moving images as she reached underneath her heavy sweater, pulled out two pictures with both women in their GP uniforms and placed them in his tanned hands.

Sasami knelt in front of the four-foot tall frame with the projector on top of it, with many of Nobuyuki's 8mm reels on the shelves in its metal skeleton. The child's blue-haired head was just visible above a big bag of popcorn, which her right hand would dip into from time to time to fill her ever-munching mouth.

The littlest princess was curious when she heard a popping sound come from the kitchen while both the Masaki men either rolled out or carried out the old movie equipment. To her surprise she found her grandmother next to the oven, moving a very large cast-iron frying pan over a high flame and a lid covered the top, the loud noise was coming from it. Once the popping subsided and mostly stopped, Seto lifted the lid to reveal the pan was full of tiny, fluffy clouds. While the oldest princess sprinkled sea salt and added ribbon of melted butter before she poured equal shares of the steaming white puffs in six bags, Sasami asked how she knew to fix it. Seto gave the little one a bittersweet smile, saying, "My okasama would do this whenever we watched movies together."

Now from her strategic position the littlest princess was able to watch the movies and in their reflected light she saw everyone's faces. The animated features of Tenchi's and his father's faces as the two men would add the dialogue of the silent mouths, as they remembered the events brought smiles to all the others' faces, but sometimes other looks appeared and disappeared from the other watchers' faces. Seated next to Tenchi, Ayeka would look at Achika's image then at Tenchi then at herself, like she was trying to judge if she was the equal of his mother, of course an angry fire would start to burn in her eyes over her own naughty thoughts before it was cooled by the sweet smile on the face of Tenchi's mother. Mihoshi seemed to stare the hardest at the motion pictures, as if she was memorizing every scene, and her pointy ears would twitch wherever someone said anything. Once Katsuhito joined them, he would add a comment or two but mostly he seemed to draw spiritual sustenance from the sight of his departed daughter. Katsuhito's stoicism contrasted with Seto's pale features, her ruby eyes had a haunted look as she sat on the other side of Tenchi. Sasami knew what caused her grandmother's reaction for Achika could be Mitsuki's twin.

But more observations by Sasami were cut short as she started to get queasy in the stomach, then a hot flash burned her body followed by some weird sensations all over her body before they concentrated into a lightness to her head, she was only able to mumble out, "Maybe I ate too much of this stuff," before she fell onto her popcorn bag.

********

Masaki Shrine

The first hint of success to reach Washu's mind was the fact that her astral body stood on the sandy courtyard of the Masaki shrine, tears almost spilled from her emerald eyes at the light breeze flowing over her skin, such a physical stimulation she hadn't felt in five-thousand-years. From just inside the entrance to the shrine complex, the child-woman saw Tsunami's gliding image enter the Honden Hall but before following the goddess, the petite scientist washed her hands and rinsed her mouth with the wooden ladle at the stone basin. Washu's steps made no noise as he walked to the shrine, went up the wooden steps and followed in Tsunami's wake.

The room was filled with a soft gray light and Washu's unparalleled mind knew from Ryoko's past the man who used this energy, his importance to her daughter, but she also felt something stir in the depth of her consciousness, an unexplainable insight told her this aura was familiar to her too. Yet before the child-woman could muse more over her inner disturbance, a loving sigh reached her ears and her eyes filled with mild surprise at the sight of Tsunami's body entwined around the gohei, eyes closed with a heartbroken look upon her face and a single tear upon her cheek. Washu quickly realized she intruded into a very personal moment for the blue-haired goddess, so she put her right fist to her mouth, coughed loudly before saying, "I always expected you had a thing about wood."

It was as if a bucket of ice water was dumped on Tsunami as she jumped away from the gohei and gave Washu the kind of look an older sister gives a kid sister when she is caught doing something indecent with her boyfriend. Washu couldn't stop a knowing smile from touching her lips due to the goddess' reaction so she said, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

With relief on her face, the freckled-face deity took a couple of steps toward the pink-faced girl, bowed and said, "Konnichiwa, Washu-san."

Washu heard a note of familiarity in Tsunami's greeting but put it down as caused by the little scientist's five-thousand-year relationship with the group mind of Tsunami's children. Washu returned the bow and then said in her cutesy child-like voice, "You can call me Washu-chan, I am little and sooo kawaii."

Instead of the blank expression that her statement usually brought to people's faces, Tsunami warmly smiled and Washu felt again another echo of a forgotten memory fill her mind. To cover her confusion, the petite redhead asked as she let her eyes roam the room, "So you are also familiar with the user of this gray energy?"

"Hai, he was someone who helped make my dreams come true" unfathomable sadness in Tsunami's words, "but in the end, I betrayed him to preserve what we built," then she asked, "How does you know of him?"

"He helped Ryoko-chan," Washu's gratitude very much in her words, "he returned the gift of humanness to my musume."

Tsunami nodded in agreement to Washu's words before shock froze her head and dropped her mouth open. The goddess face went from surprise to joy and in a lightening bolt move she had both hands on Washu's shoulders and her face at the little one's level. A thoroughly staggered and wide-eyed Washu stared into the goddess' pink orbs while she said, "Na . . . ni?"

"Horosha is still alive?" a pleading quality to Tsunami's question.

Washu mutely nodded before she could get her tongue to work, "Ryoko-chan knew him as Handover George."

Tsunami jumped back from Washu, started to make joyful sounds and she spun her body in the middle of the room, acting more like a high-spirited teenager than a goddess.

Uncertain about the reliability of her answer, Washu amended her words, "You shouldn't make such an absolute conclusion based on flimsy evidence," her hands held high to gesture at the gray energy, "more information must be weighed with empirical logic to make certain it is the same man."

"He was as dark as a black hole," Tsunami's face all aglow with happiness, "his skin looked melted and his gray eyes seemed to touch your true self."

Washu's eyebrows lifted at the accuracy of the goddess' description but she still said, "In the ages of this universe, there could be many who would fit such a physical description. What else can you add to make your Horosha our Handover George?"

"He was a warrior who hated war," Tsunami answered, "a man who fought for peace, a protector of other people's happiness," then her voice became downcast, "at least he was when I first met him."

"He is the man my musume's memories hold dear," Washu said before her curiosity had her added, "why did you think he was dead?"

Washu's question chased away Tsunami's bliss and her shameful look matched her tone, "When I . . . when I betrayed Horosha, I placed him outside of existence, in a place of nothingness."

"So he escaped," Washu hid her ire at Tsunami's act, anger caused by her knowing what Handover meant to Ryoko.

"So it would seem," Tsunami agreed before awe filled her words, "yet he has not claimed the bloody toll of vengeance upon me or any of my creations."

"I don't think he will," Washu enforced her calm certainty with a knowing look, "the man my musume knew treated everyone with courtesy, killed only when necessary and made Ryoko-chan happy," then misery crowded out Washu's smile as she remembered what had broken that relationship.

"Do shimashita?" the goddess' pink eyes showed curiosity brought about by Washu's words and by the anguish on the little scientist's face.

"My NIGHTMARE is what happened!" Washu's arms flat against her side as self-loathing filled her words, "why must my MISTAKE be visited upon every living thing!" her fists shook with emotion, "Why must everything I hold dear be twisted and corrupted," tears spilled from her closed eyes, "why can't my loved ones be left alone?"

A warm comfort surrounded Washu's astral body and she opened her bleary orbs to find Tsunami knelt before her, the goddess softly embraced her like an older sister would embrace her kid sister. Without seeking an explanation for Tsunami's behavior or why it felt so natural to Washu for the goddess to hold her, the child-woman returned the hug and sobbed five-thousand-years of tears into the goddess' left shoulder, a soothing voice coming from the larger woman's plain lips, "Maa . . . "

********

Masaki Residence

Sasami had a happy smile upon her face as she watched, by means of Tsunami's mirror lake in her ship, what had transpired in the Honden Hall at the Masaki Shrine, then she felt the damp cloth being taken from her physical body's forehead, so she dropped her astral form back into her body, that way no one would see the luminescence coming from her key. The child's pink eyes fluttered open to find a field of heads looking down at her and a green clover blanket covered her body, the head she recognized as Nobuyuki's said, "It looks like we're having a season of fainting oujosama."

"Otousan, jodan ja nai da ze," a disapproval tone in Tenchi's voice.

"It's oke, Tenchi-niichan," Sasami's face and words full of cheer, "I just got too excited."

"Are you sure?" Ayeka knelt by the couch where Sasami was placed after she fainted.

"Ee," Sasami nodded emphatically, then a new thought entered her mind and she asked her sister, "Oneesama, can I sleep here tonight?"

"Naze wa yo" a surprised look on Ayeka's face.

"Onegai shimasu, Ayeka-oneechan," Sasami's big eyes had a pleading look, "I want to be able to greet Ryoko-neechan, when she gets home."

Ayeka opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, only to close it again as a play of emotions animated her face, she glanced at the faces around them, each held a different look but none showed any objection to her little sister's request. Deep in the reaches of her darkest fears caused by the day of Ryoko's attack on Jurai, she wanted to make clear the dangers of the friendship her sister had developed with the uchu kaizoku, how improper this bond was for a Oujosama Jurai, yet Ayeka would have to be blind not to see how Ryoko always showed a comrade-in-arms attitude toward Sasami while the littlest princess showed an absolute love for the ample woman. With an I-give-up sigh, Ayeka said, "Ii ne, you can sleep here," then she gave Sasami a stern look, "but just for tonight and don't let that bakemono keep you awake all night with her dream stories."

"Arigato, oneesama," the sunshine of Sasami's smile made light Ayeka's fears.

"Speaking of which," Nobuyuki looked at his watch, the dial reading 11:30 p.m., "I think we all should turn in."

"Fire has kept us hopping today," Seto agreed with Tenchi's father, "and it will tomorrow."

"Oyasumi, Sasami," Ayeka said as she kissed her sister's forehead

"Oyasumi, oneesama," love as big as the universe was in Sasami's voice.

"I think I'll take a walk before going to bed," Mihoshi told them before she headed for the door.

"Mind if I go with you on part of your patrol, Miho-san," Katsuhito asked with a thread of humor.

"I don't mind," a teasing tone in Mihoshi words, "as long as you realize that it doesn't make you my partner."

"I'm already a guji," false arrogance in Katsuhito voice, "to some that makes me your superior."

"Hai!" Mihoshi clicked her heels as she became as straight as a ramrod and gave the weathered priest a sharp salute before she crumbled into a fit of girlish giggles, which spread to everyone in the room to various degrees of output.

With another round of people saying goodnights, Nobuyuki was the last one to turn to leave but then he heard Sasami say, "Psst . . ."

"Nani?" Nobuyuki asked as he turned back to face her.

"So what happened?" Sasami asked in a conspirator's whisper.

"Oi," Nobuyuki realized what Sasami meant, so he gave the little girl a big smile and a thumb up with his right hand.

"I thought so," Sasami's voice full of delight at another good deed finished.

"How did you know?" Nobuyuki was perplexed by the child's statement.

"I saw lipstick on your face when you came home," Sasami's face beamed with a knowing smile, "I think everyone else saw it ne," Sasami pressed her hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter when she saw Nobuyuki's blush and his left hand reaching for his handkerchief, then she said, "Oyasumi, otousama."

"Oyasumi, Akaruime," Nobuyuki used the nickname Katsuhito had given the little princess.

Both the police officer and the chief priest put their shoes on and with Katsuhito opening and closing the front door for Mihoshi, the two walked up the path to the stone staircase as the elder told the youth, "I've talked again with my friends in Amerika," a calm assurance to his tone, "and they said there won't be any problems creating a background for two unique keisatsukans," then he added as he looked over his shoulder at the house, "when I reach my office, I'll send the information and the pictures to them by fax."

"Domo arigato for helping me," Mihoshi's acceptance in her smile.

"I don't know about Tenchi or Nobuyuki," a clear certainty in the old priest's words, "but for me you being Seto's nazukeoya makes you a part of our kazoku."

"And family helps family," Mihoshi's English words full of knowing.

"We can choose our friends and our enemies," Katsuhito now speaking in English, "but never our relatives."

When they reached the beginning of the stairs, Mihoshi drew herself up before the gentleman and said in Nihongo, "I will spare neither flesh nor bones to show your faith in me isn't misplaced," then she bowed deeply before adding, "Oyasumi, Katsuhito-san."

"Your body would have to be without honor," the moonlight reflected off the elder's eyeglasses, "for me not to believe you will succeed," he returned the bow and then said, "Oyasumi, Miho-san."

Katsuhito watched Mihoshi continue her evening walk, thinking, 'Only a few hours ago she shook with the tears of yesterday,' he turned and put his right foot on the first step, 'next she wears the jester's hat,' his shoulder felt a cold breeze come up, 'and finally the white light of meiyo and gimu blazes from her spirit,' his ears heard his feet upon stone as he wondered aloud, "How many facets does this star have?"

********

Batta Shinpu Bar, Kurashiki

Ino Ikko thought his lucky star was right over him. Just as he walked out of the bar, looking for a hooker, lo-and-behold his dreamboat-of-pussy stood just a few feet from him. Her brown hair was done up in a big ponytail and her eyes were forest green and she wore a sailor fuku just like the one worn by that character in that popular anime series, but what made him positive she was selling her body was the fact that her uniform's green skirt was so short, he was sure it would give an excellent display of I-see-London-I-see-France when she walked. To cap it all off, she smiled at him and gave him the come over gesture with her right hand, palm down with finger moving up and down.

Instantly Ikko obeyed the silent command where she immediately pressed herself against his front while giving him a girlish plea, "Ne ne shinshi! I'm afraid to walk home alone," mock innocence in her eyes, "could you escort me home?"

"Why don't you call your ryoshin," Ikko decided to play her little game, "so they can pick you up?"

"Iie, Iie," the woman bounced on the tips of her toes, her curvy body rubbed against him, "My face would fall to pieces if my ryoshin knew I came down here with my friends."

"Where are your friends?" Ikko was really enjoying this verbal foreplay as well as the physical tease.

"They're not my friends!" a childish cry to her voice as she shook her head and the big green ribbon bow upon her chest went back-and-forth, "They brought me here and left me!"

"Oi, I don't know if I have the time to take you home, ojosan," Ikko made a pretense of looking at his watch while the girl made a pleading sound, then he made a show of relenting, "Oke, I'll escort you . . . eh . . . "

"Kino Makoto!" the teenager cheer in her voice was countered by the very adult kiss she planted on his lips, then she grabbed his left hand with her right hand and pulled him along as her voice rang out, "Let's go!"

The two had started out at a quick walk and it was at this time that Ikko decided to check to see if he was correctly interpreting the messages Makoto was sending him. The black-eyed man's left-hand let go of her right and he touched lightly her cloaked buns. When her response was a throaty titter, he decided to try it again but his hand was intercepted by her left hand, then to his delight she pushed it under her skirt and forced his index finger into her jeweled box's keyhole, in minutes Ikko was erect in arousal as she literally rode his hand. Combine this with the booze in his veins, Ikko was only half-aware when Makoto hopped off her perch and directed him into Musoka Karaoke.

"Why are we stopping here?" Ikko's flush face equaled the confusion in his tone.

"I thought we could sing a duet together before you take me home," Makoto's suggestion was made crystal clear to Ikko when her right hand gave his hardened crotch a quick squeeze.

"Won't your ryoshin worry about you coming home so late?" Ikko kept the pretense going for the bored cashier at the rental booth.

"They go to bed early," the wooden half of the booth kept the man behind the glass from seeing Makoto's right hand rubbing the tip of Ikko's erection.

Ikko paid for the room then asked Makoto as they headed for the room, "And what else am I buying for you tonight?"

"You already have everything necessary to pay me," Makoto's words made complete the young man's belief of what he was buying for the rest of the night.

Ikko opened the door and Makoto skipped through while saying, "I feel so hot I think I'll take off my clothes."

Ikko kicked off his shoes and stood behind her before saying, "Why don't you let me undress you?"

Makoto turned and pushed with both hands against Ikko's chest, sending the man stumbling across the room and onto a twelve-foot long gold leaf-patterned sofa. Ikko was startled by Makoto's change of tactics and was even more uncertain when she said, "Oi, I don't need your help, Ikko-san," the woman gave him a deadly smile, "All I have to do is this," she crouched down, undid her boot buckles and stepped out of them, "and this," she pulled the ribbon bow apart with both hands which caused the whole sailor fuku to fall to the floor, "and this," with her right hand she pulled the brown hair from her scalp, revealing bitched black hair.

Ikko was mildly disappointed by the striptease before his drunken brain recognized that Makoto knew his name even though he hadn't given it, but both thoughts were canceled by a new feeling, fear. A body freezing fear touched him as he watched Makoto's eyes start to glow green, just as her nude body went from fleshy pink to fiery red. He felt waves of heat coming from her but what kicked his instinct for survival in gear was the smoke coming from the pile of clothes at her feet and the licks of fire that appeared between her toes when she took her first step toward him. A bounding leap cleared him from the sofa and a second one got him almost to the door but something landed on his back and drove him into the carpeted floor, driving the wind from his lungs. Agony pieced his brain as two incandescent hands yanked his head back and clamped his mouth shut. Ikko high-pitched whimpers came from his throat as he desperately tried to buck the weight off but his attempts were feeble and then ended as his brain boiled in its own liquid.

Guardian Angel Nakayama Mitsutoshi was checking the alley behind the Musoka Karaoke for passed out drunks when he saw something that caused him to rub his eyes before looking again, a red glowing nude woman climbing out of a window about ten feet from him. His wonder quickly turned to icy fear when she turned toward him but then his eyes saw wretchedness in her grass-colored eyes, a look that only intensified when Mitsutoshi hugged the right wall of the alley as she ran by him. The black-haired man watched the fleeing woman until his nostrils caught a whiff of smoke, which brought a cry of alarm from the young man as he ran toward the front of the karaoke building.

********

Tomoki Gaijin House

"Why does the dam thing keep moving?" Mulder swore under his breath when his key missed his room's lock for the fourth time.

"Meow!" an animal's yowl broke the hall's silence and caused Mulder to pause in his next attempt to insert his key in the elusive keyhole.

"Shampoo, kaeru wa yo (Shampoo, come back!)!" a young girl's voice came from around the corner.

As Mulder start to look up from his crouched position over the his room's doorknob, his body leaning against the door, a blur of white passed through his field of vision and he felt something furry land on his upper back as his ears heard the tinkle of brass bells.

Mulder stood up but still leaned on the door and turned his head left. What he saw changed his befuddlement to instinctive dislike for perched upon his shoulders was a longhaired cat, the animal's red eyes seemed to show the same emotion as Mulder's pale green eyes.

"Kobanwa, otetsudai shimasho ka (Good evening, can I help you)?" Mulder broke the staring match he was having with cat to look down at a young girl in an orange-yellow polka dote dress with a look of uncertainty on his face.

Mulder pointed at the cat with his left hand before saying, "Yours?"

"Hai!" the black-haired girl nodded as before she added, "Petto."

"Yowl!" rumbled out of the cat, Mulder could almost swear the cat was taking exception at being tagged as the girl's pet.

Mulder tried not to weave as he stood straight, held stiffly out his key to her and said loudly, "Here!"

A flash of erupting anger passed though the teenager's eyes before a good-natured smile touched her lips as she said, "Gaijin," then she took the key from Mulder's hand.

"Meow," the fearful tone in the cat's voice.

Mulder took a step back and used the doorframe to steady his body so the girl in white shoes could get to the door. She hesitated a little and gave Mulder a warning glare but Mulder's guileless look reassured her enough to come to the door, put the key in the lock, turned it. As the door slowly swing in Mulder grabbed the cat by the skiff of its neck and lifted it off his own neck. Held at arm's length Mulder's fuzzy mind tried to fathom if it was some kind of cross between a Persian and a Siamese, although the American couldn't figure out where the purple markings could come from either bloodlines. The detective was amused by how the cat's twists and kicks made the animal look like it was trying to do kung fu but the rage in its cat's eyes made Mulder's dislike for cats stronger, the awareness in their gaze seemed to suggest something more than animal intelligence to him.

Mulder put the cat in the girl's waiting arms and his reward was a lightning swat from a purple paw, a jagged tear upon a finger and three beads of blood.

"Shampoo!" the girl thumped the cat's pink nose with her forefinger, "Bad neko onna!"

Without forethought the girl held the cat with one hand and used her free hand to pull Mulder toward his apartment's bathroom as he stared dizzily at his wounded finger. It took the icy cold of the water washing his wound to snap Mulder's mind awake and he watched as the girl cleaned his finger with soap and water and dressed it with a silky white handkerchief, all this time her right foot was firmly planted in the cat's back.

"Thanks," Mulder said as he tried to bow to the youth, only to grab the bathroom's doorframe with both hands so his alcohol induced vertigo wouldn't make him kiss the titled floor.

"You . . . are . . . welcome," the girl took great pains to get her English pronunciation correct.

Mulder gave an appreciative smile to the teenager before she left his apartment, the last thing he heard was the little tinkle of the bells the cat wore and the girl's stern voice, "Don't worry Shampoo, we'll find out what Ramna's baka scheme is this time ne."

"Shampoo," Mulder said as he closed the door, "that's an unusual name for a cat."

Mulder was barely able to undress and get under the covers before his alcohol clouded brain put him into the sleep-of-the-dead, so he wasn't wakened when a loud crash came from the room next to his, like something or someone impacted against the wall.

********

Masaki Residence

MacClean stopped his truck on a wide shoulder just above the Masaki Residence entrance. The man hadn't changed his clothes so he had to be extra careful his white tennis shoes didn't slip on any mud while he made his way through the forest that surrounded the field where the home was. As many times before his sense-of-direction brought him out of the woods within a few feet of the stone staircase of the Masaki Shrine. With care MacClean made sure his black hooded cloak prevented his white nurse's uniform from catching the bright moonlight from the sky or the mirror lake, then he looked both ways as he walked over to the Masaki's van, even with his senses on alert the silent man didn't detect the woman coming up the driveway nor the woman flying fifty feet above him.

It had taken Ryoko thirty minutes of stealthy flight before a happy feeling filled her heart at her first sight of the familiar lake and the familiar three-story house then her warm feeling changed to curiosity when her sharp eyes saw a dark figure walking toward the tan van and a blond-haired woman coming up behind it.

The driver's door wasn't locked so MacClean opened it, removed the tape from the recording machine underneath the driver's seat and popped in a fresh tape, it was at this time he heard a faint bubbling sound behind him, like the one caused by a foot stepping on mud. MacClean's body stiffened and his astonishment only magnified when he heard an unidentified female voice come from the same direction, "Nobi-san (Mr. Creep Specialist), would you do me a favor and assume the position."

Immediately the female's use of law enforcement slang told MacClean she was probably the uniformed woman the old woman mentioned, the same one he saw riding with the Masaki clan while he was going up to Bisei. The volume of her voice told him she was about eight feet from him so she wasn't close enough to tackle, then a chill went up his spine when she added, "Nobi-san, please do as I say, I don't want to shoot you."

Without moving his head, MacClean looked for any avenue of escape, the car door blocked any escape to the left, the length of the van prevented a run to the right, the woman would surely nail him if he tried to vault over the van's roof and all the windows inside the van were rolled up, he wouldn't have time to open a door. At this point of no options left but to turn around and take it like a man, a needle pain started in man's right ear and went right straight through his head, the sound of wind chimes filled his ears. The American almost fainted but kept his legs underneath him and when his eyes cleared, he discovered the window on the front passenger's door was open.

Mihoshi was almost dancing with joy, she had been on Earth for just over twenty-four hours and she was already making her first arrest. She was checking on the two Jurain guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, at the gate when her enhanced hearing heard a vehicle engine stop somewhere above the entry to the main road. The blond walked up the road's shoulder and found a light green truck parked with the engine still warm. With a cop's instinct the ebony woman made her way back to the Masaki's gate and quietly opened it, went in and silently closed it. Staying close to the tree line, her blue eyes scanned the surrounding area but couldn't detect anything with infrared or with ultraviolet and the thickness of the woods prevented her starlight vision from showing any movement. Waiting fifteen minutes for anything to suggest a prowler was nearby, the policewoman was about to throw in her cards and go inside when a shadow moved from the woods' darkness and headed for the van. Matching step-for-step, Mihoshi followed the dark figure in and when it opened the van's door, she drew her snub-nosed pistol from its holster, the rig she wore beneath her heavy sweater. The blond bombshell closed the distance to nine feet before she stopped, brought herself into her firing stance and called out to him to surrender. When the cloaked figure did nothing, she told him she would shoot him. This produced an unexpected result as the body let out a moan and its head came close to eating metal. With real concern Mihoshi exclaimed, "Oya, Maa! Are you alright?"

Ryoko had dropped down to thirty feet so she could have a ringside seat to what was happening below. 'Serve him right if the deka blew his ass off, allowing her to sneak up on him like that,' contemptuous look on her sharp face. The uchu kaizoku believed the fun was over and she was about to teleport into the house's living room when her ears went up at a barely audible metal click.

Mihoshi's pointy ears also heard the noise and opened her mouth to say something when the figure's cloak billowed out and off its shoulders, obscuring Mihoshi vision for a few seconds. The detective held her fire until she could get a clear shot and when it came, her blue eyes saw someone in a white dress diving through an open window on the passenger side of the front seats.

Not for the last time was MacClean glad he hadn't run into a trigger happy cop, but the feeling didn't last due to his left ass cheek suddenly felt like it had been branded as that part of his anatomy cleared the opening, with a tight tuck he spun and landed on bent legs. With a mind alert he heard the policewoman dash toward the rear of the van so he bolted to the front.

Ryoko had to bite her tongue to keep from cheering at the prowler's acrobatic maneuver and she still almost whistled at Mihoshi's deadeye shot, then Ryoko darted to the roof of the house and extended her senses so she would know where the fox and the hound were, but this action brought a puzzled thought to her mind, 'Strange, I can barely pick up the yonashi (night specialists) and Mihoshi.'

Mihoshi felt Ryoko's scan so her body activated countermeasures while her baby blues caught a glimpse of white going around the front corner of the house, without a second thought the blond made for the back of the house on an interception course.

MacClean gave a silent thank-you prayer, for the policewoman not having a partner, as he doubled back on his tracks, raced by the van and headed for the woods. The man's clever mood increased when he reached the first trees but it was popped as a red beam nailed a tree to his left, followed by an angry voice, "You're under arrest, so come back here!"

Ryoko came close to rolling off the roof when a fit of laughter hit her after Mihoshi's last comment and barely kept the noise low. After the spell passed Ryoko teleported to a tree along the path the two were going up, did a quick calculation where this dirt track led and grinned evilly, 'If nothing changes, they'll encounter the bamboo forest between my cave and the shrine.' After a few ticks of the clock, the fox sped by the uchu kaizoku's hiding place with the hound twenty feet behind.

Even with the hill's incline Mihoshi knew she was slowly closing in on her target, so decided a hip shot was too risky. In fact she was impressed with the prowler she was chasing, 'He must be in peak condition to maintain this kind of pace.'

Within MacClean's mind an array of battle plans was being developed, adjusted and rejected as he was trying to come up a solution to his problem. He didn't want to hurt the woman, be hurt by her nor did he want to end up in jail, any jail. One thing that did bring a little relief to his mind was this path's destination, the bamboo forest. While creating his spying nest, he had used his knowledge to create marked paths and delay trigger traps in that forest. A quick glance back showed to MacClean's dismay that Mihoshi had cut the distance between them by six feet, he had to use those traps now, 'What do they feed these galactic gals?' the man in the female nurse's clothes wondered, 'She's not even winded.'

Without stopping MacClean dodged between a set of four bamboo trunks, when Mihoshi hit the same area one of the four came whipping out. The policewoman's eyes caught the movement and her right forearm came up, the smack was loud but the blow did no lasting harm and wasn't meant to, the blow was designed to cause the target to miss a trip wire. Mihoshi's legs went out from under her but instead of plowing into the grass and mud, the ebony lady's hands grab a bamboo trunk, pull up her legs and use her momentum to swing around and land back on her feet.

MacClean heard the trap go off, so he began the count needed to avoid his other creations but this option changed when the sound of footfalls behind him started again. The next trap was a death fall, which was designed to injure a leg but it didn't work out that way. As soon as the blond bombshell felt her left foot sink, she hopped forward then right. The gray-eyed man looked over his shoulder in disappointment for his traps had increased the distance between them but nothing else. As he was nearing the end of this unique growth the man decided on using his last option, with a quick flick of both hands over his shoulders four half-inch silver balls landed behind him.

Ryoko was flying over the rod woods when four loud explosions went off, caused the air to fill with smoke and metallic flakes and blocked her sight of the cop and the thief. On the ground the same thing happened to Mihoshi except she slowed to a walk, turned and paused before she continued carefully forward, with her gun firmly held in both hands. Without mishap the GP officer came out of the cloud to find she was in front of the Demon Cave.

Ryoko's amber eyes saw Mihoshi move toward the cave's entrance but because of her advantage in elevation, she knew something the cop didn't, the white clad burglar was on the roof of the great stone opening. 'This is almost as fun than watching Trigun,' Ryoko had an entertained grin on her face, 'I just wish I could get closer so I could really see who the deka was chasing.' This is when Ryoko noticed the person on the rock outcropping was staring straight at her.

MacClean was flat on his stomach, using every yoga trick he knew to keep his breathing slow and his muscles from cramping, it was in this position he saw something floating over the bamboo forest, something with spiky hair. 'Oh . . . no . . . no . . . no . . . ' gut wrenching foreboding matched his soundless words as he bounced to his feet and bolted for the bushes behind him.

"He got away," a disappointed Mihoshi sighed but then her sharp hearing heard footfalls on the rock above the cave and her eyes saw Ryoko flying over her. "Yeah! Go get him, Ryoko!" Mihoshi cried out in English.

Ryoko heard Mihoshi's exclamation but she was joining the hunt because of her own nosiness, for her amber eyes saw the runner disappear like a rabbit down a hole after running eighty feet.

******** 

Ryoko's Cave

MacClean knew he shouldn't panic like that but knowing he was on the demon's home tuff, he didn't think she was there just to watch the chase. It was at this moment the ground disappeared from beneath his feet and only his skill had kept him from breaking bones in his thirty-five foot fall down a stone chimney. Now he stumbled around in the dark cave, not enough moonlight from the ceiling opening could reveal its inside, and it was in this condition he overlooked a large rock on the floor but it didn't overlook him. "Just not my day," MacClean muttered angrily as his vision barely make out a two-halved rock with a torn paper ward on it and broken rope around it, "Maybe I can use the rope to get out of . . . " his words were interrupted when the sound of stone grating against stone found his ears.

MacClean looked from his prone position to find a soft glow coming from his right. With senses alert the man slowly stood up, walked to the wide fissure and reached with his right hand to take hold of a six-inch thick tree root so he could balance himself as he peeked in. 

******** 

Masaki Shrine

"You feel better, Washu-chan?" Tsunami asked as she used her sleeve to dry the child-woman's face.

"Better," then Washu realized that both of them could touch each other and wondered aloud, "Nanto?"

"I think the gray aura of the gohei has given our astral bodies the substance of flesh and blood," the blue-haired goddess looked over her shoulder at the object she mentioned.

"For the gohei to have absorbed that much of Handover's energy," a spark of Washu's old genius in her green orbs, "it would've been in his possession for a very long time."

"Or it was exposed to another object owned by Horosha," Tsunami lightly countered, "remember the gohei came from another jinja."

"A jinja your bondmate will visit in a few days," Washu had a knowing look, "do you think she would spy for us?"

"Sasami-chan would lose her heart," a mischievous smile on Tsunami's face, "over the idea of being a spy."

Washu remembered one of her earlier observations and said, "Sasami-chan has changed you."

For a minute or two, Tsunami didn't say anything and Washu waited patiently, then the words came, "When I descended from my throne, when I entered this existence, my mind was black and white. To me there was my truth, my purpose and my logic. Those were the reasons I created Jurai and my Trees, brought humans to my world and asked Horosha to help me." Tsunami stood up and walked over to the wooden pole, continuing her words, "As humans bonded with my Trees, color came into their group mind, I felt a rudimentary individual develop in each Tree," Tsunami went behind the lacquered wood, "but most of all I saw the love the human bondmates gave to their families," and appeared on the other side to face Washu, "and they made my shitei a part of their families."

"But not you," Washu's words more of a statement than a question.

"Iie, not I," a sad nod of Tsunami's blue-haired head, "I was someone to be venerated as the creator, to be worshiped as a goddess and to be served by them."

"Except for Handover," Washu's face had a knowing smile.

"Horosha treated me as an equal," Tsunami walked back to Washu, "treated me as a friend."

"He awoke human feelings within you," Washu gained sudden insight, "and when you betrayed him, you punished yourself by suppressing them."

"I made myself as cold and harsh as outer space," Tsunami's pink eyes glistened with tears, "I demanded obeisance without question, I used plans that didn't take into account the suffering they brought and I found silence was golden."

"Yet all changed when Sasami-chan became your bondmate," Washu's wide grin broke the goddess' black mood.

"Sasami-chan didn't know what I had done," old happiness filled Tsunami's soul, "the kodomo saw how lonely I was and she used her passionate fire to melt the ice around my heart."

"You do know that Seto-chan and Yosho-dono are concerned about the peculiarities of the bond between you and Sasami-chan," Washu pointed out, her tone making it clear to Tsunami that she too was suspicious.

"I cannot say anything," Tsunami answered with a don't-ever-ask-me-that-question-again tone, "only Sasami-chan can."

Washu opened her mouth to ask another question when she saw Tsunami's eyes become alert and then she felt it too, "What is going on?"

"An intruder," Tsunami's voice became ominous.

******** 

Ryoko's Cave

The sensation started with MacClean's right hand, a numbing feeling going up his arm, spread out into his whole body and his sight winked. Instead of the earthy glow of the crack and the damp darkness of the cave, his vision held the image of a monstrous room with a ceiling of sunlight and a floor of darkness. The room looked empty but he felt the occupants' voices swimming in his mind.

'He/She is young and old,' a voice like young leaves in a soft breeze observed.

'His/Her physical form is that of a bondmate,' a voice like ancient bark added.

'One form but two beings?' wondered a voice like dancing rain.

'More like an egg,' soft breeze voice said, 'a sunny yolk hidden by a white shell.'

'A more important question is how can he/she be here?' asked a voice like falling snow.

'What do you mean, sister?' asked the dancing rain voice.

'Did anyone bring him/her here?' asked the falling snow voice.

'No,' answered a legion of voices.

'Yet he/she is here,' concluded the falling snow voice.

'Maybe Mama brought him/her here?' inquired the dancing rain voice.

'I did not bring him/her here,' answered a voice familiar to MacClean.

'Then he/she is an invader,' concluded the ancient bark voice.

'How?' asked the dancing rain voice, 'only those of Mama's seed can be here.'

'That is not completely true,' countered a voice like the morning sun.

'True, you once had a body like his/her,' the ancient bark voice agreed.

'Could he/she be like Mama?' marveled the dancing rain voice.

'No, he/she is not,' the familiar voice hurriedly answered.

MacClean felt a change in the speakers' attitude, like a certain subject was closed to inquiry.

'Could he/she be a lost seed?' speculated the morning sun voice. 

This time, an icy animosity flowed over his mind and filled MacClean with dread.

'A hybrid,' hardened tone in the falling snow voice.

'A murdered child taken to make him/her,' wrath in ancient bark voice.

'We must know the truth,' stated the soft breeze voice.

'Yes, the truth,' the morning sun voice agreed.

Very quickly MacClean felt like thousands of ants were crawling over every inch of his mind, trying to find an avenue to his memory. Instantly he tried to shake the painful probing and he cried out, 'Please, stop!'

'Who are you?' commanded the ancient bark voice.

'I . . . I . . . ' MacClean fought through the prickling sensation, 'I'm Anthony MacClean.'

'Half-truth,' declared the falling snow voice.

'Who are YOU?' the pain increased.

'MacClean!' MacClean fought through the pain.

'Who made you?' stiletto sharpness to the morning sun voice.

Immediately MacClean realized what the voices were searching for and he said, 'I can't tell you.'

'Why?' boiling rage in the ancient bark voice as the pain reached a new level.

'An oath . . . to God . . . ' MacClean could barely get the words out, 'to those . . . who died . . . for freedom.'

The response was instant, MacClean screamed as every fiber of his mind felt like it was torn apart.

********

Masaki Residence

Upon the sofa in the living room and under a peach-colored comforter, Sasami tossed and turned as a moan escaped her lips, her face lit up by her key.

Inside her mind, she ran down an empty corridor, one she knew very well. When the child in the sky blue nightie reached the great doors, she pushed against them and found they reluctantly opened. In the room she found a man suspended in the air, rainbow energy racked his body and caused him to repeatedly scream.

"Iie wa yo!" horror in Sasami's pink eyes, she took a step forward but found adult arms restraining her body. Looking behind she found it was Tsunami who held her and she cried, "Onegai shimasu Tsunami-neechan, make them stop!"

"Iie, I won't," Sasami was confused by the iciness of Tsunami's tone and the rage she felt from the Trees.

Another rip of screams came from MacClean's lungs and Sasami pulled even harder to escape Tsunami's grasp, suddenly an angry female voice shouted out, "ENOUGH!"

The first thing Sasami saw, was a ball of golden radiance expand from MacClean's chest and encompass the man's body, at the same time both Sasami and Tsunami shut their eyes and grab their heads as the Trees' pain lanced through their minds. When both child and goddess open their eyes, a golden tanned woman with long fiery hair stood before them with MacClean's unconscious body cradled in her arms like a sleeping child, Sasami couldn't get a clear view but it looked like the woman was wearing a white flowing dress. Wild wrath burned in the woman's white eyes as she thundered, "Is THIS the way you repay me, Tsunami-megami?"

"Otaiyo-sama, my shitei had a right . . . " Tsunami started to say.

"A RIGHT?" the enraged Otaiyo interrupted, "You speak of a right, after I consented for you to take from my domain those who would die of war, famine and pestilence, to join your precious children on that dirt ball world of yours?"

"They sought the truth of his creation," a stubborn tone in Tsunami's words.

"The TRUTH!" Otaiyo thundered back, "The truth is you were quite willing to let them torture him because they could get away with it while you could not!"

"He shares the same blood as my shitei," Sasami's became frightened for she had never seen Tsunami angry, "was one of them MURDERED to make him so?"

"For all your preachy words," a deadly tone in Otaiyo's voice, "the truth is you wouldn't accept him for what he is!"

"You are wrong, Otaiyo-sama," Tsunami's tone showed she was offended by the woman's accusation, "it is not up to me to accept him, I only want answers."

"Answers you knew I could give," a wave of heat washed over Sasami making her eyes water, "because you knew my Star Seed is within him."

"Tell me, IMA!" Sasami saw Tsunami start to glow.

Hardness entered Otaiyo's eyes before it was replaced with tenderness as she looked at MacClean, with a simple gesture she lifted his body up a little before saying, "Return."

MacClean's body became a swirl of fireflies and slowly disappeared, at the same time a disc of energy appeared on her left arm, which condensed into a three-foot gold shield. Otaiyo's white eyes sparkled like clear diamonds when she said, "Tsunami-megami, I will vomit blood first before I answer you."

"IIE!" tears in Sasami's voice as she bolted from Tsunami, "Suru no o yameru wa yo (Stop doing it!)!"

"Sasami!" surprise in Tsunami's voice and she reached out to grab Sasami but her hands only touched the tips of the child's ponytails as the little one ran toward Otaiyo.

Tsunami's astonishment was matched by the look of bafflement on Otaiyo's face at Sasami's approach and when the crying girl was five feet from the golden woman, she stopped, dropped to her knees, placed her hands flat to the floor and touched her forehead to the cold surface, tears pooled just under her cheeks as she choked out, "Don't fight . . . no more pain . . . forgive Tsunami-neechan . . ."

It seemed like eternity to Sasami as she sobbed before Otaiyo but it wasn't, it was only a half-a-minute before a pair of hands gently lifted her up by the shoulders to a kneeling position, and another pair tenderly embraced her from behind, the child opened her pink orbs to find Tsunami knelt behind her and Otaiyo knelt in front of her, an impressed look was on the golden lady's face as she said, "I would have to be without blood and tears not to be moved by your plea, I will forgive."

Sasami hiccuped as her tears lessened then she looked up at Tsunami, who gave the little one a slow nod before saying, "I will do as you say, Sasami-chan."

Sasami gave a happy sigh and made a pillow out of Tsunami, her small ears listened to the two women's voices as her mind slipped into sleep's domain.

"She is truly the crystal of your blood and sweat," a thread of awe in Otaiyo's words.

"With each step Sasami-chan takes, she earns a star," the pride in Tsunami's voice now gained a touch of melancholy, "soon she will not need me."

"Does the ojosan . . . ?" sympathy in Otaiyo's unfinished question.

"For her, the sakura (cherry blossoms) will carpet the ground many times before it happens," Tsunami shook her head with a bittersweet smile on her lips, "but for me it will be like a dew drop from a leaf falling upon a blade of grass."

"Tsunami-megami," an apologetic tone in Otaiyo voice, "Anthony-san was remade by the bones of one of your kodomo but he didn't know and the ones who did it don't walk under my light anymore."

"Gomen nasai, Otaiyo-sama," regret in Tsunami's words, "I let the emotions of my shitei to cloud my judgement."

"Oi, it takes two to scatter sparks," music in Otaiyo's voice, "and I'm a redhead, as hot as they come!"

A string of twin giggles was the last thing Sasami heard.

********

Ryoko's Cave

The agony was gone, a warm presence had banished it from MacClean's mind, then he heard a tender female voice say, "Return." Immediately MacClean jerked his hand from the thick tree root and stumbled back, but before he could think about what had just happened, another female voice came from behind him, one sending fright's shivers up and down his spine, "Let's add some light to this situation," a devilish purr in her tone, "so I can get a really good look at you."

Dozens of little balls of light filled the cave, MacClean's body slowly turned to face the speaker like it had a will of its own, but what his gray eyes saw left him totally confused, the cyan-haired woman stared at him with a chalky face, her amber eyes full of horror, her mouth opening yet no words came and her hands start to reach out, then she grabbed the sides of her head, her head rolled skyward and a scream cut loose from her lungs before she toppled to the ground.

********

Masaki Residence

Tenchi bolted from his bed and landed on his room's hard floor, his breathing heavy and his heart thunderously beating with terror because of a scream he had heard in his sleep, a scream he knew to belong to Ryoko. Instinctively the black-haired youth retrived Tenchiken from the top dresser drawer, then he hurriedly pulled his room's door open and ran into the hallway, there he saw Seto just leaving the room she shared with Mihoshi and he said, "Seto-san . . . "

"The cave," Seto held her mirror in her right hand, "hurry."

"Hai!" it was a minor miracle Tenchi didn't break his neck as he recklessly ran down the stairs that led to the front door. At the same time Seto concentrated and her mirror began to glow, with a fluid motion she threw it above her head and rainbow light engulfed her and her body disappeared.

Tenchi's dash to the front door awoke Sasami from her deep sleep and she sat up before saying, "Nani?"

"Sasami, do you know what's going on," Ayeka appeared at the top of stairs in the living room, "I just saw obasama disappear and Tenchi-sama room's door was left wide open and he's not in it?"

"I think Tenchi-niichan just ran out the front door," Sasami eyes full of pink sleepiness.

"Hen ne (Strange)," a thinking look appeared on Ayeka's face, then she gathered her thoughts and concentrated, soon her tiara glowed with white light before the radiance faded as did she, the one thing that brought concern to Sasami's heart was her sister's disappearing body was dressed in her brown-black-pink battlesuit.

********

Ryoko's Cave

It took only a running jump for Mihoshi to land on the top of the cave's roof but for the life of her, her multi-functional eyes couldn't spot where the prowler or Ryoko had gone. That was about to change.

Down in the cave MacClean took a cautious step toward Ryoko but he quickly pulled up when a redheaded child appeared next to the prone body, a look of abject sorrow on the little one's sharp face. The girl knelt with her knees on either side of the woman's cyan-haired head and MacClean noticed a resemblance between the two females. Again MacClean took another cautious step and again he pulled up as a tall woman appeared in front of the other two, her body taking on a battle stance with a lioness-protecting-her-young look burning in her red eyes.

MacClean took on a fearful smile and said, "Would you believe I'm a lost Avon lady," the blue-haired woman's eyes narrowed, "Iie, I didn't think you would," the man right foot took a half-step as he held up his hands in mock surrender then saying, "Ja ne!" MacClean bolted for the only exit from this cave turned into a hen house, the fissure near the tree roots. It was half a second after the redhead entered the fissure that a string of fading expletives echoed out.

Seto was set to pursue the cause of Ryoko's collapse when Ayeka appeared five feet before her, underneath the cave's chimney and said, "Obasama, I'll take care of . . ." the princess' words were cut off due to Mihoshi's Santa Claus decent.

"Oi, Ayeka-san, arigato for breaking my fall," Mihoshi looked down at her human cushion, "do you know where the dorobo (thief) went?"

"Get OFF of me, Mihoshi-san!" Ayeka glared up at the blond bombshell.

Seto pointed at the fissure, saying, "The dorobo went into the fissure."

"Thanks, Niji!" Mihoshi switched into English as her leap to her feet knocked more breath out of the flattened Ayeka, the blue-eyed cop stopped at the crack, waved at the princess with her palm down before saying, "C'mon Ayeka, he went that away!"

Mihoshi's words were gibberish to Ayeka but the gesture was understood, she was on her feet and followed the police officer into the opening, although Seto was sure her granddaughter really wanted to comment bodily harm on her godchild, especially when she heard a gleeful whop and a frightful scream echoed her way. Satisfied her two young ones could handle one thief, the tall lady turned to face the person she loved most in the universe and the sight she found wounded her heart, Washu's astral hands ghostly passed through Ryoko's face while her child's glazed eyes stared up with her raised fists repeatedly hitting at something that wasn't there. The oldest princess knew her body had prevented Ayeka from seeing this tragedy but she did notice Mihoshi spaced an intelligent glance within her bubbly performance.

Seto stepped around and knelt next to Ryoko's right side, it was then Ryoko started to repeatedly say, "Okachan . . . okachan . . . okachan . . . "

"Seto-chan, this is what my genius is," bitterness in Washu's tone, "I can't even wrap the tears from my own musume's face nor can I hug the one who I love as if she came from my own uterus."

"Washu-chan," Seto's voice full of longing, "all that matters is you are still alive."

"Alive?" an insane gleam entered Washu's green eyes, "Hai, I live as I deserve," the insanity now in her voice, "for I took your great idea and what did I create with it, a kuso-musuko who seeks the ultimate power and a musume who was turned into the ultimate weapon."

"It is not your fault, okachan," Seto's countered, "you gave love to each of them equally, you couldn't have known the jealousy that sharing produced within Kagato's kokoro."

"Oi, couldn't I," hot tears split down Washu's pink cheeks to match her raging tone, "I was so wrapped up being the greatest genius in the universe that I couldn't see the HATRED my musuko had for my musume," then her voice dropped to a heartbroken whisper, "and it led to this, my Ryoko-chan reliving her attempt to break me out of my prison, just before my musuko murdered her personality."

"Doesn't this show her original persona has returned?" Seto put hope into her question.

"Iie, Ryoko-chan will only remember this as a nightmare meant to be forgotten," Washu's body started to shake, "some bytes here, partial data stream there, she will remember chips of her past but the akachan I raised to be the perfect musume is gone."

"That doesn't mean Ryoko-chan won't love you," Seto put every ounce of her love for the redheaded child-woman into her words, "just as ai shite'ru yo."

"Love me?" the Washu's insane gleam returned in spades, "My otto's love was taken from me, my musuko's love turned him into a mad man," now her voice shouted to the heavens, "and my musume's love for me sentenced her to five-thousand-years in JIGOKU (HELL)!" With the echoed words Washu's astral form faded from Seto's sight.

Down in the chamber that once was a demon's home for seven-hundred-years, MacClean walked around the large pool while his penlight searched the room's wall for another exit but found none. As the man in women's clothes turned to resign himself to his coming fate, his light caught something in the pool's water, a leaf moving under the surface that disappeared into what looked like a man-size hole near the bottom of the pool. 'A current,' hope in the man's thoughts, 'which means a way out.' Not sure how much time he had before his pursuers slid down into this room, the man stripped off his clothes, his red wig, put his keys and the cassette tape into a zip lock bag which he put into a leather bag and tied it to the front of his neck, finally he painfully removed his false breasts while thinking, 'its going to take me five days to replace them.' As the blond-haired man dropped them on top of the pile of clothes, he heard two shouting voices coming his way. With some desperation he made a shallow dive into the pool and disappeared into the hole. In a nanosecond two intertwined females slid into the room, separated from each other and both came to a bumpy stop.

"Yapi, that was fun!" Mihoshi blue eyes sparkled with a child's enthusiasm, "Let's do it again!"

"Keibu Saisho Kaikyu Kuramitsu," an authoritative tone to Ayeka's voice, "must I remind you we are here to capture the invader of our home."

"But no one is here," Mihoshi countered as she got up and looked about.

"How can . . . Kya, never mind," frustration in the princess' voice as she stood up, then with a moment of concentration a bluish-white flame appeared just above her purple head. After a steady survey, her voice took on a perplexed tone, "You're right, Mihoshi-san."

"There are these clothes over here," Mihoshi pointed out.

The two ladies walked over to where the discarded items lay, "I wonder why these are here?" a curious Ayeka asked as she retrived the fake breasts with both hands.

"Maybe she was a woman of low esteem," a thoughtful look on Mihoshi's face.

"I can understand that," Ayeka muttered to herself.

"Nani?" Mihoshi's pointy ears go up.

"Eeee . . . ano . . . maybe it was a man pretending to be a woman," Ayeka tried to cover up her earlier gaffe.

Mihoshi's face lit up with insight, saying, "Hai, you're right, Ayeka-san," then a concern tone entered her voice, "but wherever he is, he must be freezing his ketsu off."

"Ee," Ayeka acknowledged, "but how did he get out?"

Up above Tenchi finally reached the cave entrance, with him was Katsuhito since the elder had the keys to the rusty lock. With a minimum pause, both men rushed down the passage way until they reached the room with the soft glow, there Tenchi moaned, "Ryoko."

There Tenchi and Katsuhito found Seto trying to calm a prone Ryoko, her amber eyes had a trapped animal look as she tried to twist out of the tall princess' strong grip. Without looking up Seto ordered, "Katsuhito-dono, help me carry Ryoko-san to the house," then she looked at the fissure, "Tenchi-dono, Ayeka-dono and Mihoshi-dono are in the chamber where that crack opened up to, they might need help."

"Hai, Seto-san," Tenchi responded and ducked into the thin opening, there he put Tenchiken under his belt, slowly slipped over the edge and used both hands to control his slide.

Both Ayeka and Mihoshi spun around when they heard Tenchi land behind them and stumble forward a few steps before coming to a complete halt. "Ayeka-san, Miho-san, are you alri . . . " Tenchi's question changed when he saw what Ayeka was holding, "Ayeka-san, you didn't?"

Ayeka's eyes went wide at the implication of Tenchi's question and she blurted out, "It's not what it seems!"

"I can assure you, Ten-san," Mihoshi's face full of seriousness, "that Ayeka-san isn't a gei boi-san (Mr. Gay Boy)."

Ayeka wheeled to face Mihoshi before hotly saying, "He already knows that!" Then her face produced seven shades of blushes at what she just implied and she fumbled out, "I mean . . . at the onsen . . . Tenchi-sama saw . . . I didn't mean to . . . it was Ryoko-san's fault!"

Tenchi let out a sigh of relief at Mihoshi's mixed up truth, then he walked up to the princess, stopped her fumbling voice with his right hand on her right arm, along with reassuring words, "It's oke, Ayeka-san, I'm sure Mihoshi-san knows that you wouldn't do anything improper."

"Tenchi-san is right," Mihoshi voice was full of good cheer, "We both know how much you want to find Yosho-sama, your inazuke."

"Hai, I do." Ayeka warmly smiled at Tenchi's chivalry and Mihoshi's openness, then with renewed balance to her spirit, the slim princess said, "Since it seems the dorobo has made his escape, let's gather up his clothes," Ayeka made an effort to keep a civil tone to her voice, "and find out what happened to Ryoko-san."

Ayeka's companions gave her a nod and each helped the other to climb up the slippery passageway.

********

Masaki Lake

The mother of all carps was sleeping at her usual spot, just above an opening on the bottom of the west side of the lake, where warm water flowed in. At least the fish was until something rammed her in the belly and knocked her out of the way. Confused and frightened the silvery animal swam in an erratic pattern for it expected another attack but when none came, it settled back in and went back to sleep.

Sixty feet off the Masaki's dock, MacClean's blond head and shoulders broke the moonlit lake surface with a splash and the man rolled onto his back so he could float as his lungs pumped cold air into his body. The American slowed his breathing to prevent hyperventilation and so he could hear the sounds around him. Doing more floating than swimming the nude man made his way to the shore closest to the blind he had built while the family was at the onsen. He was overjoyed the leather bag was still around his neck although he knew his knees, elbows and back had patches of skin missing, thanks to the sharp rocks he found in some of the narrow parts of the natural tunnel that ran from the underground chamber to the lake. He could also feel the phosphorescent slime that covered most of his remaining skin and gave a silent prayer of thanks for the slick stuff that covered the tunnel's walls, which also helped him more than once to squeeze through some narrow spots, combine this with a few air pockets to make it possible for him to reach the lake alive. When the slim man finally reached the lake's edge, he said, "Why is it that I end up looking like a drowned sewer rat when I tangle with any of these girls," he took a quick look around as he got out of the water, "the next thing you know, the little girl will nail me with a frying pan," then he made a dash for his hideout and dry clothes.

********

Masaki Residence

After taking their shoes off at the genkan, Tenchi, Ayeka and Mihoshi walked into the living room where they found Ryoko's laying on the couch, her body caught in delirium, her eyes seeing not them but something else, her hands clawing at something they couldn't see and her voice had a child-like cry, "Okachan . . . okachan . . . "

"Maa . . . " Seto repeatedly said from her kneeling position by the couch, her hands tried to comfort the cyan-haired woman and her face full of gentleness. Sasami stood next to her grandmother, a look of helplessness on her small face, while Katsuhito and Nobuyuki stood on the other side of the couch, Katsuhito with a studious look on his face while his adopted son's face was full of sleepy concern. Ayeka saw the anguish on Tenchi's face and she heard Mihoshi's high-pitched cry of compassion and even she felt her heart tugged by the pitiful creature her ruby orbs showed her, but she didn't want to feel sympathy for the uchu kaizoku, she wanted to hate the demon woman, find delight in her enemy's pain but she couldn't. At this point Tenchi asked, "Can't we do anything to help Ryoko?"

"Iie," a stoic reply came from Katsuhito, "Ryoko-dono's mind is trapped somewhere in her past."

"Her cries seemed to suggest it has something to do with her okasama," Mihoshi pointed out.

"She fights like a child would," commented Nobuyuki.

"Hai," Ayeka affirmed, "she doesn't use any of her powers or her skills."

"She is a child once more," a haunted quality to Seto's voice, "reliving a child's horror."

"She lost her okasan," infinite sorrow in Tenchi's voice, all there except Mihoshi knew why the young man could feel empathy for such a loss.

"Ryoko-neechan, come back to us," a child's plead in Sasami's voice as she placed her right hand on Ryoko's forehead.

Immediately Ryoko's amber eyes locked on Sasami's pink ones, her body calmed, her hands slowly fell to her side and a little one's delight was in her voice, "Okachan." Startled by the effect Sasami lifted her hand and again the ample woman twisted under Seto's hands, terrified eyes stared at Sasami, her hands feebly reached toward the child and she cried out, "Okachan!" Quickly Sasami returned her hand to her friend's forehead and the results were the same.

"Naze wa yo?" Mihoshi wondered.

"It seems Ryoko-dono's mother was the same size as Sasami," Katsuhito surmised while he looked straight at his grandmother.

"So when Ryoko-san says okachan," Ayeka added as she came to stand behind Sasami, "It's an adana as well as an honorific of affection."

"It's not Sasami that Ryoko-dono sees nor Sasami's touch she feels," Seto's voice full of certainty, "It's her okasan she sees, it's her okasan's hand she feels."

"So when she confronted the dorobo," Mihoshi held up the white uniform in one hand and the red wig in the other, "It was her okasama she saw."

"An onna with red spiky hair," Seto barely kept her own feeling of loss out of her voice.

"But Sasami-chan can't stand there all night," Tenchi pointed out.

Sasami knew the solution but she needed permission first, so she looked over her right shoulder at Ayeka and asked, "Oneesama?"

Ayeka also knew the solution, knew it would draw her sister and the uchu kaizoku closer to each other but under Jurain tradition she was an adult now, which meant she had an adult responsibility not to allow the chasm between her and the demon-woman to prevent her from doing the right thing. A glance by Ayeka showed her grandmother's silent nod of agreement, so the purple-haired princess placed her hands on the blue-haired princess' small shoulders, gave her sister a small smile and a reassuring squeeze.

"Oneechan," Sasami gave Ayeka a proud smile to match the feeling in her one word statement.

Seto lifted the comforter so Sasami could lay down next to Ryoko, instantly the larger female curled around the smaller one, closed her eyes and let out a happy sigh, "O . . . ka . . . chan." Within a few ticks of a clock Ryoko was sound asleep.

"I think it will be safe for Sasami-chan to stay with her tonight," Katsuhito stated.

"So do I," Ayeka agreed, then she bent down, kissed her sister on the forehead before saying, "Oyasumi, Sasami."

"Oyasumi, Ayeka-oneechan," Sasami returned.

Seto tucked in the edges of the comforter before she bent down and kissed her grandchild's exposed cheek, "Oyasumi, Sasami-chan."

Everyone else gave a goodnight and Sasami listened as they walked up the stairs before she spoke to the person who is always with her, 'Tsunami-megami, can we help Ryoko-neechan?'

Her key glowed and a voice answered, 'What you have already done, is greater than anything I could do,' gentle softness like a butterfly's wing caressed Sasami's spirit, 'sleep will heal the rest.'

'Will Ryoko-neechan remember her okasama?' Sasami suspected the answer but still asked it.

'I'm afraid not yet, Sasami-chan,' a touch of sadness in Tsunami's reply.

'Don't worry, Tsunami-neechan,' brightness in Sasami's eyes matched the glow of her key, 'we'll find a way to get Ryoko-neechan's haha to her, we'll find a way to get your imoto to you.'

'Go to sleep, Sasami-chan,' warmth embraced her soul before it faded away. With the buzz of the nighttime insects as a natural lullaby, the littlest princess was soon deep in a slumber.

********

Somewhere near Washington, D.C.

The refugee from the summer of love sat before his computer, his nervousness obvious thanks to the third cup of coffee he was on, it was even more evident when he asked, "Man, what's holding him up this time?"

"Maybe he finally got fed up with the passwords we kept giving him," suggested the smaller man with the silver-wired eyeglasses.

"If only it was something that simple," a bookish looking man added his two cents as he noticed the clock read 2:30 a.m., "most likely he's late as usual."

"Yeah, you probably right," Langly acknowledged as he tried to take a drink from his cellophane cup only to find it was already empty, then the monitor came to life.

SB: What did Mack the Knife do?

LG: He made Frankie fish food with a pair of cement galoshes.

SB: What do you do? Get a local gypsy to come up with these passwords?

LG: Tealeaves do a great job every time.

SB: Anyway, I'm going to be out of contact for the next five days.

LG: Doing what.

SB: Playing bodyguard and guide for a dignitary.

LG: Interesting, anything else.

SB: I need a new set of fake boobs.

LG: What happened, did someone bite a little too hard?

SB: Got in a tight spot and had to jettison the extra baggage.

LG: I wonder if they are as squeezable as Scully's.

SB: I better not find your fingerprints all over them, Frohike.

LG: Why not. Don't you want me to make sure they're just as hot as Scully's?

SB: Buy your own toys.

LG: We'll make sure your new tits reach you by the time you reestablish contact, anything else.

SB: How about the UFO?

LG: Our sources in NASA confirmed UFO activity over Japan and a couple of photographs 'loaned' to us show it was a very large object.

SB: Interesting

LB: Any developments on your end?

SB: It looks like two new alien females have joined the others at the Masaki compound, an unknown woman and a galactic police officer.

LB: Man, what I wouldn't give to be the rooster in that hen house.

SB: Down, Frohike, down.

LB: See you in five days.

The monitor went dead while Byers said, "Well, anyone for Dennys."

********

Hanawa Kazuichi Machiya (Kazuichi Hanawa Townhouse)

MacClean turned off his computer and relaxed for a moment with a damp yellow towel around his neck, thinking, 'Well, that's taken care of. I've already called the radio station to let them know that I've been called away on 'family business'.' The station manager knew what family business meant and made the usual boss noises yet relented when he knew he couldn't afford to lose his star deejay. The transplanted American knew he would have to bring in gifts to his co-workers in six days, a way to make up for the inconvenience of his absence.

The only thing that mildly concerned MacClean was the earring on his right ear. When he was in the furo's dressing room, the mirror showed a trickle of dried blood from his earlobe to the crosses, he also found the item's catch was fused solid. As he soaked in the furo's hot water, he replayed the encounter with the two teenagers before he concluded, "Obvious this Belldandy is an authentic practitioner of the ancient ways," then he touched each cross and found the Cross of St. Mark was missing, "a talisman with limits."

"Well, I can use all the good luck I can get," MacClean declared as he stood up from his computer, walked into his kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. With his right hand, the man reached inside the machine and fished out a very old carton of milk that he kept behind a big jar of mayonnaise. Taking the carton with him, the shorthaired man sat on his futon in the middle of his living room, opened the wax container's top and turned it over. Out of the oblong box and into his left hand fell a necklace of gold with an uncut yellow diamond in the middle, a gem that look like a sunburst. As his gray eyes stared at the crystal wonder, he remembered how it came to be his.

It was twelve months ago, MacClean was in Tokyo at the end of another operation when he found a dying man in an alley, behind a Western styled video game parlor on the very edge of the Azabudai district. Red rivers flowed from his multiple wounds while his face and hands had a corpse's color to them. The American saw his condition and said, "I'll call the keisatsu."

"Iie," only because it was three o'clock in the morning could MacClean hear his words, "I don't matter but this does," he handed the blond man an envelope bulging with papers, "they are after the Druid Sun," life's glow slowly fading in his brown eyes, "it mustn't come into their possession."

"Who are they?" MacClean had a suspicion.

"They exist in our darkest dreams," the man's mouth barely able to say the words, "corrupters of our hopes, the eaters of our light, they seek the Druid Sun to further their plans."

"What plans?" MacClean leaned ever closer to here the brown-haired man's words.

"The Awakening has happened," red bubbles mixed with his words, "the guardians search for the princess but I won't be able to help them," the body sagged into Death's embrace and MacClean's gray eyes widen as the human body shrinks into a body of a brown cat with a crescent moon on its forehead.

MacClean put the white envelope under his shirt, then he took off his light-blue sport jacket, laid it flat on the ground, carefully lifted the dead cat with both hands, placed it on the jacket, wrapped it around the small body and carried the package as if it was the most precious thing in the universe.

At the breaking of the dawn as the Buddhist monks at the Zojo-ji said their morning prayers, MacClean came through the temple's wooden gate and waited in the courtyard with an oblong plastic package in his arms. After the prayers were finished, a young priest came to him and asked in heavily accented English, "Good morning, how may I help you?"

The gaijin surprised the black-robed man by bowing, saying, "Konnichiwa, I would like a cremation and burial done for me by this temple."

"I'll get the so (Buddhist Priest) who's been assigned that responsibility," the young priest gave an embarrassed bow as he switched over to Nihongo, before he scurried off to find the person.

It didn't take long for the young priest to return with a much older priest, the hard look the old man kept giving the young man showed the poor kid was going to get it later. When the pair reached MacClean, the older man bowed before asking in a respectful voice, "Konnichiwa, I was made to understand by this ahondara (slow-witted imbecile)," another hard look, "you would like our temple to perform a cremation and burial."

"Hai," the blond-haired man made a gesture with the package, "I would like you to take care of my neko, he was a warrior with a noble heart."

The older priest's shaggy eyebrows popped up at the strange request and he said, "Zojo-ji was once the family temple of the Tokugawa," then his eyes became flinty, "many will demand a great price to be paid for us to perform the ritual."

"Those who have given their lives for humanity deserve the recognition of kings," priest of many winters heard the righteous tone in the gray-eyed man's voice, then he took out a wad of bills with his right hand and gave them to the elder priest, "this should cover the costs."

"Amply," the elder said, then snapped his fingers and pointed at the package, the younger priest immediately responded by tenderly taking the package from the American's arms, then the older priest asked in a neutral tone, "where do you want us to bury this great samurai?"

"He will be buried at the Aoyama Reien (Aoyama Cemetery)," the gaijin pulled out a business card and handed it to the tanned head elder, "this will cut through the red tape."

The astonishment of the youngest priest showed at the mention of one of the oldest and most sacred cemeteries in Nihon, stayed hidden behind the elder priest calm resolve but that wall was breached when he saw the name on the card and his voice showed it, "May I ask your name, so the owner of this card will know who is using it."

"Kawatta-san," bright amusement in the man's eyes at the older priest's confusion before he added, "she will know," then he bowed to the two priests and said, "Sayonara."

The two returned the bow and said, "Sayonara."

It was then the young priest got a quick look at the business card and he paled at the power of the name it showed, uttered, "Do you think such a gaijin would . . . "

"Baka!" the elder priest gave the pink-headed priest a diamond hard look, "Couldn't you feel the confidence he had with our language and our ways, I have no doubts about him knowing the saishu (High Priestess) of the Ise-jinja."

Three days later, MacClean was coming out of the terminal at Heathrow Airport, London, only to find his ears catching a young female voice cursing in Nihongo, "You baka-chin! You stole my neko and now you stole my cab!"

The irate person was a slim girl with very long flaxen hair with a modest red bow in her hair with the cut of her sky-blue knee-length skirt and a paler blue blouse showed she was in her early teens. MacClean was very sure the girl fired off her words knowing no one around her knew what she just said, so the American couldn't pass up the opportunity to show how wrong she was, "Oya Maa! Such language from a young ojosan, a representative of our culture."

The teenager nearly jumped out of her clothes and she snapped around with shamefaced shock, expecting to see an elder woman or man the source of the Nihongo reprimand, her shock was replaced with surprise when she saw a twenty-something man with a Cheshire Cat's grin on his face. She was still undecided if she should be shameful, angry or both, when MacClean said, "Ojosan, may I offer my aid to you?"

The girl seemed to swallow a hot retort so she answered with a nod and with one of the few English words she knew, "Please."

MacClean returned the nod and it didn't take him long to flag down a cab that could handle both the six suitcases the girl had with her and his backpack and an overnight bag. The girl gave the driver a piece of paper with the address and MacClean gave his verbally. While the cabbie held the door open, MacClean gave his card to the girl while saying, "My name is Nikko-san."

The girl's blue eyes looked suspiciously at him but they brightened at once due to the Nihongo words on the card: Nikko Talent Agency, Tokyo, Nihon. With an actress smile on her face, the girl said, "I'm Aino Minako."

MacClean made a you're-first gesture toward the cab and the girl identified as Minako leapt into the black car, what caught him by surprise was she grabbed his left hand as she was passing him and half-dragged him onto the backseat. In an attempt to regain his composure, the shorthaired man asked, "So what is this about a neko."

"They took Artemis from me!" Minako's outrage renewed, "Told me he had to be quarantined for thirty days!"

"Really?" MacClean egged her on.

"Artemis might be lazy and a klutz," Minako shook her right fist like she wanted to punch someone, "but he is not diseased!"

Then without losing a beat she faced MacClean and asked, "So why are you here in London?" then she put an ocean of charm in her face when she added, "Looking for a new face to add to your book?"

"Actually, I'm on vacation," Minako's brightness went from a supernova to a light bulb at the first part of MacClean's statement, "but that doesn't mean I'll overlook any diamond-in-the-rough," the supernova was back.

"Oi, I'm flooding with ability!" Minako's hands between her knees as she bounced in her seat.

"You mean you're overflowing with talent," MacClean corrected her.

"That too!" Minako asserted and for the rest of the trip the girl sang songs, performed bits of dialogue from plays and did comedy skits from television shows. By the time the cab reached Minako's destination, the Little Nihon Restaurant in London's Asian community.

After the cabbie unloaded her luggage, Minako asked as she got out of the cab, "So do you think I'll get to see you again?"

"Dewa, my hotel isn't that far from here," a friendly smile on MacClean's face as he got back into the vehicle, "so we might bump into each other here in London."

"How about in Tokyo?" MacClean heard the big hope in the question Minako's asked through the door's opened window.

"An aidoru has been made with less ability than you have," MacClean gave an honest assessment as he closed the door.

"Arigato!" Minako bounced up and down and waved with both hands as the cab left.

The next time the two met was not where either one of them thought it would happen. The next day was a cold day with thin clouds flying overhead as MacClean knelt down on one knee before a white gravestone, in a cemetery on the other side of the English Channel, in a French province known as Normandy. He had just laid a pair of red poppies in front of the marker, with the name of Master Sargent Bernard Rodgers upon it, then closed his eyes, inclined his head and his lips moved in a silent prayer just as he had done at ten other graves. When the ritual was finished, the man in the tanned trench coat stood up and found to his surprise a young girl standing just outside the sea of crosses and star-of-davids, her palms pressed together, her head bowed and an angelic look upon her face. MacClean stood and waited for Minako to finish her prayer, when she did her own eyes and words showed the same surprise the man felt, "Gomen nasai, Nikko-san."

"Aino-san, you didn't see me?" MacClean's amusement was tempered with concern.

"I . . . I . . . was kind of lost in my thoughts," confusion in Minako's blue eyes like she was trying to remember something.

"Do you usually wander cemeteries?" MacClean asked lightly.

"Iie," Minako gave a grateful smile as the wind rustled the hem of her white trench coat, "I came here to pay respect to those who died for freedom," then her wind-flushed face clouded with sorrow and her words took on a haunted sound, "for those who died for love."

MacClean calmly walked to Minako as the young girl continued, "I can't do that in my homeland," she looked down and to one side, "we have memorials to farmers and soldiers who tried and failed to protect their freedom," the salty wind carried her tiny drops of sadness, "but there are no grave or memorial for someone who succeeded."

"That's not completely true, Aino-san," a gentle strength in MacClean's correction, his hands got out a small pad of paper and pen, wrote something down, tore off the piece of paper and offered it to the girl.

"Kore wa nan desu ka?" questioned Minako as her right hand took the paper.

"Its directions to the grave site in Nihon," MacClean took out a green handkerchief and carefully wiped away tears Minako didn't know she was shedding, "of a man who succeeded in his protection of the liberty of over two thousand families."

"Kya, look at me!" her face redder at her embarrassment, "Crying like a kodomo."

"That's oke, Aino-san," a polite smile on his face, "the tree of liberty is watered by the tears of patriots."

"Isn't that blood?" Minako's eyes danced with delight at her chance to correct someone else's incorrect use of an idiom.

"In this situation," MacClean gave the young lady a toothy grin, "I think tears will suffice."

Minako couldn't help smiling before she again looked at the name on the paper, saying with a serious tone, "He must've been a great man."

"Iie, just an ordinary man with an ordinary wife," every word MacClean said echoed with respect, "with an ordinary job as ambassador of Poland, yet when people asked for his help he didn't turn them away," now it was Minako's turn to witness a deep agony on MacClean's part, "with eyes turned red by lack of sleep, with aching fingers caused by endless writing of visas, he gave families a chance to escape the Nazi's genocide."

"You act like you knew him," Minako said with sudden insight.

"Iie, I didn't but my ojiisama knew him" a guarded look in MacClean's eyes, "just as I came here to honor the men he knew."

Minako put the paper in her coat pocket before saying, "Domo arigato, Nikko-san."

"Do itashimashite, Aino-san, now let's go catch the ferry back to England," merriment in MacClean's gray eyes, "I'm sure that iro otoko I saw with you last night is lonely for your company."

Minako went a shy and girlish, "Alan-san is the musuko of my otousama's itoko, I'm staying with them while I'm here," then she gave MacClean a playful shove as she accused, "What are you doing, spying on me?"

"Iie, I was checking out the band playing that night," MacClean said disarmed words as they walked together.

"They were suge gu!" Minako seemed to dance next to him.

"Hai, they were, Aino-san," MacClean was happy to see Minako's delight.

"Ne ne, you can call me Minako," the wind made her hair a blond halo around her happy face, "since you're going to be my agent."

MacClean chuckled and then said, "You're certain."

"By the time we get back to London," a teenager's determination in Minako's face, "I'll have blown you with my charms."

"You mean, dazzle me with your charms," MacClean went with the less provocative correction.

"That too, ne!" the two made their way to the road where several cabbies waited.

On the way back to London, MacClean couldn't help find delight in the bouncy Minako, her endless optimism and butchered idioms vanished away his old memories of past loss and gave him a moment where he didn't have to think about the importance of his mission in London. Yet underneath all that teenager sweetness and natural charisma, MacClean remembered the look he saw in Minako's eyes at the cemetery, the kind he had seen in a soldier's eyes, one who saw too much war and had no comrades left, a survivor's loneliness.

As MacClean once again dropped her off in front of her cousin's restaurant, he asked, "You know you haven't told me why you're in London?"

"Oi, I'm such an ei eichi o wa yo (ying-yang)!" Minako thumped her head with her right fist, "I'm spending my vacation here to see if I might want to be an exchanged student this coming school year."

"Going aboard and living with other people is a great experience," a studious tone to MacClean's voice, "it makes you conscious of the similarities we all have with each other," then he his tone took on deepness, "and it makes you respectful of the differences."

MacClean's words stirred Minako's curiosity, "Ara, is that why you decided to live in Nihon?"

"It's one of many reasons," MacClean gave a vague answer to hide what he might have hinted at.

"Dewa, don't forget me when you get back to Tokyo," Minako waved at him and MacClean returned the gesture as he left in the cab.

The number of days was only three before the two vacationers found themselves within eyesight of each other, this time it was the Celtic Exhibition at Epping Castle, Essex. In an attempt to capitalize on the growing interest on Britain's Celtic heritage and to help pay for the ancient castle's repairs, several public and private collections donated some of the best preserved artifacts of this vanished culture, a culture that had dominated Europe from the Shetland Islands to Sicily and from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Black Sea. Several of the first floor rooms now contained large and small display cases as well as wax statues of the people known as the Celts and some of their opponents, like the Romans. It was in one of these rooms that MacClean carefully examined a heavy gold necklace with an uncut yellow diamond as the only adornment. As his nose was almost touching the display glass, he heard a male voice say behind him, "One of the few examples of a natural sunburst."

MacClean unbent and turned around to find the gray-haired curator for the exhibition standing behind him, in a very clean black business suit with a white rose in his lapel. MacClean nodded and smiled but said, "Yes it is, for a reproduction."

The curator's black eyes stared for a second before he cleared his throat and asked, "How were you able to . . . " he left his question unfinished.

"I've had dealings with counterfeits before," MacClean pulled out a business card and gave it to the curator, it read: Nikko Investigations, Tokyo, Japan.

The curator paled and asked, "You don't suspect some of the exhibits here are stolen artifacts."

"No, I'm just here to enjoy the beautiful artwork," a pleasant smile on MacClean's face, "my only concern was if you knew about everything here being fakes."

The curator put his right index finger horizontal to his lips and motioned the American to follow him, as the two men entered an empty side room the blond man caught a glimpse of a red butterfly bow amongst yellow hair but before he could make sure of his suspicion, they reached a corner and the curator started to say, "For a man of your background, you can understand the costs of insurance and security can be very expensive," his eyes remained alert to anyone coming in, "so the general public will see professional reproductions while certain people will get a private showing of the real artifacts."

"In other words, it's easier to protect one sealed off room than several open rooms," MacClean said with a knowing look.

"And with the maps, the drawings and the wax eye-candy," a drop of acid contempt in the curator's voice, "the public won't know the difference."

"Don't worry," a disarming charm in MacClean's voice, "I have no intention of rocking-the-boat," then he gave a little shrug, "besides I work in this business and I don't want to lose potential customers."

"Good chap," the curator offered his right hand and MacClean shook it, "I was sure I could count on such a bright fellow like you," then MacClean noticed a sly look on the man's face, "So you work in Japan?"

"It's my base of operations," a neutral tone to MacClean's answer.

"I'm curious, have you had the chance to study this Sailor V phenomenon," MacClean picked up a hint of anger in the man's tone, "that been happening in Tokyo."

"You mean the news media hype about a teenybopper in a red-white-and-blue sailor suit running around capturing cooks and vaporizing aliens," a Cheshire Cat's grin on MacClean's face.

"You don't believe it?" the curator's eyes took on a hooded appearance.

"Of course not," barely checked laughter in MacClean's tone, "I'm absolutely sure it's a publicity stint to promote the Sailor V comic book, video game and animation series."

"So it isn't real," MacClean was sure the curator's opinion about his intelligence had hit rock bottom.

"The next thing you'll be telling me is some people have seen some guy running around in a star-and-strips costume carrying a round shield," sparkling mischief in MacClean's gray eyes.

"Well, I've got to go check on something," the curator made the usual parting statement.

"As do I," MacClean gave the counter parting, "Take care"

"I will," the curator waited until MacClean left the room before he added, "your ignorance will make the Dark Kingdom's retaking of this world much easier."

It only took a moment for MacClean's ears to radar on Minako's spirited voice and for his eyes to spot her with a tall, young man with brown hair, a youth Minako had identified as Alan. The American took a circular route so he would come up behind them and he was halfway on his chosen route when he saw Alan ask an assistant curator about something. The page-cut haired woman pointed out of the room and Alan turned to Minako and he said something to her, she gracefully smiled and the young man left the room. At this point MacClean saw the thirteen-year-old take out a compact and it looked like she was checking her face but his intelligent gaze showed him she was slowly turning so the mirror would scan the room. It was at this point with the shorthaired man ten feet behind her that he saw the curator's reflection in her mirror and he froze. It was humanoid but not human, his unearthly good looks made that plain but when Minako's mirror shifted to his assistants, they appeared as beings with dagger-like fingers and a mouth of pointy teeth, their flesh was of some kind of dark material. Then MacClean saw Minako's reflection and he quickly turned away to find something else to look at because her reflection was one of the most beautiful that he every saw, a beauty equal to any picture of Venus he had ever seen, yet his awe of the reflection's loveliness was mixed with apprehension because it wasn't exactly a copy of Minako's face. The Image had enough changes as to make it almost impossible to connect it with Minako but MacClean was certain of one thing, the reflection belonged to Sailor V due to the red masquerade mask on the reflection's face and the crescent moon on her forehead. Unknown to the American was that his quick attempt to hide his discovery kept him from seeing Minako's startled intake of air when her mirror showed his reflection.

'What will Minako do?' MacClean thought, 'Just like me, she's seen the true form of the curator and his people,' then he mentally kicked himself, 'Of course I know what she'll do, this is Minako for crying-out-loud, one or one hundred she'll try to find some deserted place where she can transform and attack these creatures,' an icy chill touched his soul, 'I can't let that happen, my little conversation with the curator has put them on alert,' even now his sight showed the curator going around and talking to his assistants, 'the element of surprise will be gone and Minako won't have a chance.'

With desperation born from guilt MacClean spun toward Minako and said with a cheery tone, "Minako-chan, just the person I wanted to see!"

Several people gave MacClean a hard look at his noisy outburst and even Minako jumped a little before she gave him a studious look while timidly saying, "Nikko-san."

Minako's look made MacClean paused and he asked as his right index finger pointed at his face, "Do I have something on my face?"

"Iie, iie," the shakes of Minako's head produced a golden rainbow with her hair, then with a cautious smile she continued, "So what is your good news?"

"I've decided to take you on as a client," ecstatic glitter entered Minako's sapphire eyes, "I even booked a recording studio for this afternoon, just on the off chance you're free and I could find you in time."

"Of course I'm free . . . " Minako paused to frown before she finished, "Komatta wa! Alan-san is with me!"

"Bring him along," MacClean countered her disappointment, "I might have to leave so you'll need someone to act as an interpreter," then a possible snag entered the slim man's brain, "He does know Nihongo?"

"Hai," Minako's good-natured spirit was evident in her attempt to use an English idiom, "Alan-san has made my visit here a wedge of pie."

"You mean a piece of cake," MacClean found himself automatically corrected the girl in the blueberry-colored blazer and cream white skirt.

"I wouldn't mind having both!" Minako's left hand grabbed MacClean's right hand and pulled him along in the direction Alan had gone.

The excited teenager and the amused adult reached the young man as he came out of the men's bathroom, the first thing he heard was Minako's giddy voice, "Alan-san, this is Nikko-san," MacClean gave a wave with his free hand, "He's asked me to be his client! SUGE GU!"

"Minako-san, please lower your voice," Alan was conscious of the stares they were getting from everyone.

"Alan-san, aren't you happy for me?" Minako's face wore a hurt look.

"Baka na, of course I'm happy for you," Alan quickly agreed with her, "It's wonderful news."

Minako's cute smile returned and she said, "Gu! Because Nikko-san wants me to go to an audio studio to make an audition tape," a spell-like gaze came from her blue eyes, "and I was hoping you'd come with me?"

"Ee," a warm smile upon Alan's lips, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Yatta!" Minako let go of MacClean's hand, latched onto Alan's right arm and pressed her face against his shoulder as a dreamy look filled her face.

Minako remained on cloud nine while Alan's steps guided hers as they followed MacClean out the front entrance and the older man flagged down a cab. It took a pothole in the country road to bring Minako out of her blissful trance in the back seat of the vehicle with Alan on her left side and MacClean on her right side. She stared at the blond-haired man as he talked on a cellphone in English, "Thanks Gus, I know its short notice but I think this young lady has potential."

"My good man," only MacClean heard the reply, "some of my studio musicians just finished a session with George and I'm sure they wouldn't mind working with another legend."

"You're laying it on rather thick, Gus," a light condemnation in MacClean's voice, "the last time I produced a record Bruce had fuzz on his cheeks."

"So what," Gus chuckled back, "some still remembered Sunshine for talking Bob into going electric."

"Gus," MacClean rolled his eyes, "Bob was going to do that anyway, I just joked he should do it at the Newport Folk Festival."

"Righto, omate," Gus' voice full of humor, "and the rest is history."

"Yeah," a grumpy sound to MacClean's words, "how to get twenty-thousand people mad at you at the same time."

Laughter barked over the receiver and the man other end said, "I'll see you when get here."

"See you then," MacClean hit the off button while he heard Alan said, "Minako-san, it's not polite to stare at someone."

"Oi, Alan-san, I didn't mean to ne," a pair of roses bloom on Minako's pink cheeks, "I was just imagining how Nikko-san would look like with long red hair."

"Nani?" bafflement in MacClean's one word comment, which matched Alan's mystified look, the only response the girl gave the two men was a beaming smile.

A couple of hours later the cab pulled up in front of the Marquee Studio and released its passengers. Just inside the entrance, a burly man with arms like beer barrels met them and hugged MacClean as he roared out, "Sunshine! Where in the Bloody Hell have you been hiding!"

"Japan . . . " MacClean had just enough air to get the word out.

"Well, it's good to see you in Londontown again," the man let go of MacClean only to give the blue-faced American's upper back a loud slap with his right hand which almost finished the man off, "and you still look like a young pup," the yellow lens of his eyeglasses flashed as he shook his head, "you and Dick Clark must have the same plastic surgeon."

"Yeah, Gus," MacClean recovered enough to make the introductions, "Gus Dudgeon, may I introduce you to the Minako Aino and Alan Harper."

"Ahh . . . the girl you talked about and her friend," Gus offered his hand to each in turn, Alan got a squeeze that left his hand white but Minako received a teddy bear shake, then he asked MacClean, "So what songs did you want her to do, my studio musicians can handle anything."

"Well I was thinking of starting her with . . . " MacClean switched from English to Nihongo when he saw Minako bouncing from one foot to the other, "Minako-san, Doka gai ka?"

"I . . . need . . . to . . . you . . . know . . . " hesitant modesty slowed Minako's answer before she got on her tiptoes and whisper softly in MacClean's right ear, "I need to take an oshikko (wee-wee)."

MacClean's grinned lopsidedly at the helpless look on Minako's face before he asked Gus in English, "Gus, Minako needs to use the little girl's room."

"Not a problem," Gus's thick hand point down a hall next to the secretary's desk, MacClean added an open palm gesture to it and Minako gave a quick bow of thanks before on fleet feet she ran into the hall. Her darting eye saw a person in a checkerboard skirt, go through a door with a bathroom marker on it and went into it in a flash, was out of it just as fast with a screech and went into the other one marked as a bathroom. Gus grinned wide as he said, "It sounds like she followed Phil into the wrong bathroom."

"He still wears his hair down to his ass?" MacClean's grin was as big as Gus' while Alan gave them both a dirty look.

Gus nodded while adding, "At least now he washes it."

A couple of minutes passed before the already mentioned man in a Scottish kilt came over to them, shook MacClean's right hand while saying, "Sunshine, oeight, long time no see," then he asked, "the Asian girl, the one who followed me into the men's room, is she the dove you told Gus about?" MacClean nodded, then Phil's green eyes went to Alan, "And I'll bet this is her boyfriend."

"I'm Alan Harper," a surprised look on the young man's face, "and I'm Minako's friend, that's all."

"Oh, you mean she's free," a hungry look in Phil's eyes.

"I wouldn't say that either," a protective look in Alan's black eyes.

All three adults gave the teenager a knowing look and then Gus asked, "So which songs do you want Minako to sing?"

"You happen to have the sheet music for Kyu Sakamoto's version of "Ue O Muite Aruko" as well as Taste of Honey version?" MacClean's voice gained a professional tone.

"Ue O Muite what?" both Gus and Phil said with bewildered looks.

"Sorry, been in Japan too long," MacClean chuckled at his own mistake, "I mean "Sukiyaki."

"Aye," Phil answered, "I'm sure our database has the original version and we use teleprompters now instead of sheet music."

"I know," a chagrined look on MacClean's face, "I was just caught in the past."

"Any other songs," Gus returned to the original inquiry.

"Minako knows only a few English words," MacClean's professional attitude returned, "so let see how well she can sing phonetically by having her do "The Rose," then have her do a couple of songs she knows the Japanese versions."

"Hmm . . . " Phil thought before he suggested, "how about "Yesterday" and "In My Life."

"Good suggestion," MacClean smiled, "two songs that all Japanese sing in karaoke booths."

"MacClean, why don't we use your hit to test her phonetic singing?" a sly look on Gus' face.

"C'mon, Gus," MacClean gave a frustrated sigh, "It only broke into the bottom of the chart here in Britain and it didn't even reach the basement of the Top Forty in the States."

"Nani?" the Nihongo word made the four males realize that Minako had joined them.

Relieved that Minako interruption had stopped Gus' attempt, MacClean said as he gestured toward Phil, "Minako-san, let me introduce you to Phil Dunne."

Minako was timid at accepting Phil's handshake, she glanced down at his kilt with its purse chained to his waist, MacClean couldn't help but to grin at the teenager's reaction, saying, "because his obasama is related to the ancient kings of Dumbarton, he fancy's himself a Scot."

"Oi," Minako still looked nervous.

"Come, Miss Aino," Phil gave a friendly smile to Minako as he motioned to another hallway, "we've got number five ready for you."

Minako looked at MacClean and Alan, with the older man holding his thumb up and the younger man giving the o.k. sign. With such endorsement, Minako put on a cheery look before she nodded to Phil. The small group moved down the hall to a room marked five and entered, inside was the normal equipment necessary for recording along with five musicians. After Phil and Gus introduced the new people to Minako, MacClean and Alan, they got down to business. All the musicians affirmed that they were familiar enough with the songs selected that they wouldn't have any problems playing them. So Alan and MacClean settled down in the control booth with Phil at the mixer while Gus guided the teenager to the teleprompter, gave her a wireless mike and had the musicians and the teleprompter run through the first song to get her comfortable with it.

After the first number, Phil let out a long whistle, "Sunshine, this kid is raw but she's got talent, lots of it."

"You think so?" questioned Alan with delight in his voice.

"Except for the beginning jitters," Phil continued, "She dropped into a very charismatic performance and she handled the English words very well." The next song brought more words from the thin man, "this bobbysoxer is a keeper, her voice is clear, strong and relays emotions very well."

"A pearl of great value," Alan commented with awe.

MacClean made a pretense of looking at his watch before saying, "I've got to make another appointment, so after she finished with the selection, give her the CD and tell her I'll contact her tomorrow," then he pulled out a wad of bills and placed them in the chair he just vacated, "this should cover the costs."

As MacClean headed for the door, Phil said, "Hey, omate, don't be a stranger," a warm smile on his lips, "let me and Gus buy you a pint and talk about what you've been doing in Japan."

MacClean flashed a knowing smile at Phil, saying, "If I told you guys the truth, you'd think I'm shagging you."

Phil chuckled, Alan frowned and MacClean was gone. He didn't like the way he used Minako's dreams to deceive her but he just couldn't stand by and watch Sailor V die before overwhelming odds, along with many innocent witnesses.

It was eleven o'clock at night before MacClean made his move at Epping Castle. Instead of the business suit he wore earlier, the man's body was covered from head to foot in light absorbing black material, with one-way eye lens, breathing filter and millimeter armor plates woven into the material for protection against knives and inertia absorbers for punches and bullets. The man reached his entry point, the no longer used chimney that led straight down to a bricked-up fireplace in the room where the fake Druid Sun was kept. From careful study of the castle's blueprint, the man lowering himself down on pulleys and black wires was sure the real artifacts were in a sealed off room next to this one. When the stealthy man reached the vent over the fireplace, he was able to peek over a framed picture that covered it to view the room, everything there was as it was this morning with a new addition that glued his eyes. When MacClean first scoped out the room, one display titled "First Century BC Celtic Queen-Priestess" was missing its wax stature. The figure was of a blue-eyed young woman, her blond hair in a long single braid running down her back, her body sat on a bowl-shaped no-back chair, in her right hand she held a small crescent scythe and in her left hand was a sprig of mistletoe, but what made MacClean's eyes linger was the stature was nude from the waist up, as was the custom in those times, yet in the back of his mind, the man couldn't shake the feeling that something about the stature wasn't right but no matter how much he looked at the flawless pink skin and rosy nipples, he couldn't figure it out.

MacClean finished his journey and used a penlight in the fireplace to guide his hands as he applied a creamy substance from a tube to the mortar in a three-by-three square area of the brick wall, then he took a can out of his black bag, attached a tiny three-inch pipe to the nozzle and sprayed the white substance. A chemical fire and smoke were the result and in less than ten minutes, the combination had removed the old mortar from those bricks. The man waited another ten minutes for the area to cool before he took out and carefully stacked the bricks on one side, now there was a one-foot hole. The man listened for a moment to pick up any noise but heard nothing, so on his back he wormed his way in.

From his hole with only half his head exposed, MacClean looked around but found no one waiting to grab him, so he hooked his fingers in the edge of the bricks and in a fluid motion pulled his body out and into a slowly turning crouch from where he stood. Nothing stirred in the room so MacClean made his way to a marble head on a Roman pillar next to where a door should be. During his morning casing, he noticed the guards would ignore everything in this room but would check the stature out every time. With a careful feel of his hands, he found the concealed latch and opened it, inside was a keypad. He put his respirator in his bag, then he pulled out his own keypad and a screwdriver, with the penlight held by his teeth, MacClean quickly removed the shinny screws, lifted up the keypad, removed the wires and attached them to his keypad, then he punched in a code and waited for the device to do its magic.

One green light came on meant the security system for the room was deactivated but MacClean didn't have a chance to smile at his success, because quick steps and a shout from behind him killed it, "Sailor V Chop!"

MacClean spun and ducked to his left, this allowed a feminine arm making an left-to-right flat chop to pass just over his head and clearly cut the marble stature of Claudius Caesar in two, the maneuver also rewarded MacClean with a hard nipple in his cloth-covered mouth, now the man-in-black realized what had bugged him about the wax figure, its nipples were hard due to the chill in the spring night air.

Fire blazed in Minako's eyes at where the featureless face was and she shouted, "Sailor V Kick!"

With MacClean's body already coiled, he was able to somersault over the half-naked girl's kick, even though her bouncy breasts were yanking his chain, Sailor V's kick did make contact and one less suit of Roman armor was the result.

The sound of frustration was in Sailor V's next shout, "Sailor V Iron Muscle Punch."

MacClean stole a look at the keypad, two green lights showed which meant the door's timer was successful changed, but both the glimpse and Sailor V's twin treasures proved to be enough to fracture his concentration and allowed her to get a glancing blow on his right ribcage. The masked man rolled through two display cases and bounded back onto his feet, from where he shouted, "No fair! Three against one!"

"Baka-mono!" self-righteous anger on the girl's face, "Look at all the beautiful things you've ruin!"

"Baka yourself!" MacClean fired back, "They're reproductions!"

"Reproductions?" a blank look caused more by someone talking to her in Nihongo than by the word.

"Fakes, you usunoro (lamebrain)," MacClean's words made sharp by the pain his right hand's slight touch to the place where the heroine hit him, even with the inertia absorber he could tell he had a cracked rib, maybe two.

"Dewa that doesn't give you the right to be so insulting," the bare chest lady returned.

"Subarashii," both combatants looked across the room as the curator came in, along with his ten assistants and guards, then he continued, "Not only was my trap successful in the capture of Sailor V, I've also snagged another do-gooder," a thoughtful look on his face, "I believe the man from Nikko Investigations."

"Nik . . . ko . . . Investigations?" guilt pierced MacClean's soul at the sound of Sailor V's heartache.

MacClean suppressed words of comfort he wanted to tell her and instead spoke righteous words, "Within this collection are the sacred relics of this island nation, I won't let you use their holy power to corrupt the people of this planet."

"So the Druid Sun brought you here just as it did Sailor V," his henchmen filed pass him to take up positions in the middle of the room, then the curator gave Sailor V a leer as he said, "Although I must say her V must stand for a megumi no ko (girl of happiness)."

The fragile look on Sailor V's face went to puff up anger as she shouted, "Crescent Moon Power Transform." In blink-of-a-eye the person before MacClean's eyes went from a half-naked priestess to a red masked young woman in a red-white-and-blue sailor suit, the skirt did cover most of her thighs but the cut of her blouse did show her bellybutton and the red bow on her chest made that ample area even more noticeable. With sacred fire in voice and face she announced, "You, who would take-away people's hopes, you who would shatter young girls' dreams, you who would take the sun from the sky, I will not let this happen! Codename Sailor V! I'm the senshi of love, the senshi of justice. I'm the sailor-suited beautiful senshi, Sailor Venus!"

"Sailor V, you have proven a most annoying thorn in our side," the curator made no attempt to stop MacClean from walking to the newly transformed woman, this motion allowed the man-in-black a sight of the keypad, three green lights were on and he heard the door behind them slid open as the curator added, "But because of your great success, I, Kumonaga, will go down in Dark Kingdom history as the destroyer of Sailor V."

"I don't know about that," a light tone in MacClean's words as his right-hand fluffed up Sailor V's red bosom bow, "she doesn't feel dead." Sailor V gave the offending hand an icy blue glare before her painted lips became redder as the color drained from her face at what she saw in his offending hand and along his forearm.

"Be careful," a dangerous gleam in Kumonaga's black eyes, "that could be your epitaph."

"In that case," MacClean's arms strongly swap forward and two-inch round balls flew from his hands and forearms, "let it say he went out with a bang!"

"Kill them!" Kumonaga screamed out but his men's response was stopped as the round balls stuck to the first thing they touched, including the henchmen. As they paused, MacClean turned around, hooked his left arm around Sailor V's shoulders and he shouted, "Run!"

Without hesitation Sailor V matched his stride but both were lifted off their feet and thrown through the doorway's threshold by the concussion of the bombs going off, when they hit the floor, Sailor V rolled to her left and MacClean to his right as a cone of flame shot into the room. 

"Forgot about the gas lighting some of these old castles still use," MacClean said more to himself as he pushed his body to one knee, his vision showed Sailor V was already on her feet as she whipped out her compact and ran back the direction they had came from. The masked man moved to where he could look over the sailor-suited heroine and saw the blackened and burned creatures struggling to their feet, then Sailor V popped open her compact, aimed the mirror at them and shouted, "Sailor V Love Megaton Shower!"

The fire and smoke enshrouded room filled with a shower of golden rain and the creatures let out soul rendering screams as the drops turned them into dust, an added benefit was the same act also put the fire out in the room.

While Sailor V took a few steps into the room with a look of satisfaction on her young face, MacClean made his way to his original target, silently removed the Druid Sun and put it in his black bag. It was at this point, he saw the red masked blond started to turn in his direction while saying, "Nikko-san . . . "

"I'm late! I'm late! I'm late for a very important date!" MacClean shot past Sailor V as his statement confused her. The black costumed man ran to the shattered window that led to the castle's courtyard as he added, "Ja ne!"

MacClean heard the eyebrow twitching anger in Sailor V's incantation, "Sailor V Love Me . . . " became a fearful, "Eep!" by the sound of two silver balls ping-ponging behind him. The two grenades only produced harmless flashes and white smoke but they did their job of stopping Sailor V's attack, the shadows of the courtyard covered his retreat.

This should have been the last encounter in the Isles but lady luck decided to be a real bitch, at least that what MacClean always believed. He had left so many false leads for the police and the Dark Kingdom's soldiers to follow, a rented sail boat at Colchester, a chartered jet at Leeds, a paid fisherman at Blackpool and a rented speedboat at Ramsgate, that he was sure a rowboat bought with cash in Dartmouth by a black-haired old man would go unnoticed. Yet here he was under the ruins of Castle Dore, Cornwall, trapped in a cave complex known as Merlin's Lair, his rowboat at the entrance where a very determined figure stood in the shadows.

Booted steps upon stone had alerted MacClean of someone just outside the entrance as he dragged the craft to where the English Channel's tidal waters would reach it. Without hesitation the sweaty man hid in the underground darkness and watched as dusk's rosy light outlined his pursuer. To his amazement he saw a buxom woman a multicolored sailor suit. Behind rounded outcropping he saw Sailor V check out the contents of the rowboat as MacClean weighed his options, 'Damn, the entrance is still too well lit for me to get by her from here, then his alert eyes saw the pretty soldier straighten up, take a couple of steps up the seawater smoothed floor before calling out, "Nikko-san, give up the Druid Sun."

MacClean played spider, his hope was Sailor V would continue down the main cave and go by his hiding place, so he could make a dash for freedom but this plan crumbled when the flaxen heroine took a few move steps before she stopped and said with a hint of anger, "You can forget about me going any further and letting you slip away from me, Nikko-san, I'm not an ahondara." Then she tapped her red mask as she added, "I've also made adjustments to my mask, so you can forget about those flash grenades."

This was the impasse MacClean had dreaded the moment he found Sailor V was here in England, another person fighting to save humanity. He didn't want to hurt her and the dull ache of his cracked rib told him that such restrictions would allow her to kill him. At this point MacClean played his last card, make this a personal thing, "Gomen nasai, Aino-san, I didn't mean to hurt you like I did."

"Naze wa yo?" It wasn't Sailor V's matured voice MacClean heard coming from those red lips instead it was Minako's thirteen-year-old voice.

"Originally it was to conceal my presence here that I lied to you," the echoes of the words made it impossible for Sailor V to tell where they first came from, "but Aino-san, on that day at the castle I feared for your life and the murder of innocent witnesses, I feared my secrecy would handcuff me from giving you aid and saving them."

"But the studio . . . the recording . . . " the emotion in Minako's voice fragmented her question.

"I wanted to distract you long enough to get the Druid Sun, without the bait, an empty trap won't catch anything," then MacClean put every ounce of warmth he felt for Minako in his next words, "I just didn't think you were as sneaky as I or that you would find out the truth until the freshness of the events was gone."

"It hurts . . . " even from this distance the tinted light of dusk showed to MacClean the blue waters in Minako's eyes.

"While we were living your greatest wish," MacClean tried to take Minako's pain away, "Phil told me you were a natural, a giraffe's child."

"Honto ne?" Minako's voice full of wistful hope.

"But we both know you are meant for something more than a kirei mikake (a pretty face), something better than an aidoru," MacClean knew this was the risky part, "your destiny is much like mine, to protect humanity's freedom, to fight those who would place chains upon the megami of liberty."

"But Nikko-san, the Druid Sun must be returned to its owners," Sailor V said but without conviction.

"You know as well as I that it would be a death sentence," absoluteness in MacClean's tone, "These akurei murdered the original curator and his assistants to get the Druid Sun and to kill you."

"I can protect them and the Druid Sun," Sailor V insisted.

"Aino-san, your place is in Tokyo," MacClean retorted, "your own battles there have shown that it is the center of these bakemono's activities."

"There are others," Sailor V offered, "who can do the job."

"In Aoyama Reien there is a new grave for a fallen hero killed by the Dark Kingdom," MacClean tried to project the naked truth into his words, "a brown neko with a crescent moon on its forehead," the man in the shadows heard Sailor V's quick intake of air before he added, "Iie, Aino-san, the Druid Sun stays with me."

"Nikko-san, I can't let you have it," a fragile tone came into Sailor V's voice, "they would kill you wa yo!"

"Many have tried to draw the last breath from my lungs," MacClean smiled at the care he heard in Minako's words, "and I'm still here," then a teasing tone touched his words, "while you still need to take care of your own life da zo!"

Haughty stubbornness stiffened Sailor V's frame as she said, "I'm not that reckless!"

"Oi, you picked a fight with me when you knew the place was crawling with those oni," MacClean lightly countered.

"I thought you were a youma!" Sailor V glared at the darkness around her then a new thought gave her a suspicious look, "And how do I know you aren't one?"

"Yare-yare, Minako-san (Good grief, Minako!)!" MacClean didn't like the way this was turning out, "I helped you against them!"

"It's not the first time a master of youma turned against another master," Sailor V's vision scanned the shadows, she knew once the sun was gone MacClean could escape her.

"What can I do to convince you that even after what I did to you," a thread of guilt in MacClean's words, "we're friends?"

"Give me the Druid Sun," Minako's one-track mind was in full force.

MacClean shook his frustrated head, looked down only to realize that during the conversation, he had taken the Druid Sun out of the hidden compartment in his heavy fishermen's coat and was holding it in his right hand. Even in this total darkness MacClean gray eyes noted the yellow diamond had a golden glow and its surface was warm in his hand. He looked back at Sailor V but she showed no sign of seeing the soft radiance from the Druid Sun so he brought the gold necklace close to his face and turned the gem one way and then another, suddenly the darkness around him was gone as was the smell of the salty sea.

It was awe he felt first for as far as he could see he was surrounded by the boiling yellow plasma of the sun, yet no fear was in his heart even though he knew death from the inferno's heat or its crushing gravity could claim him at any moment. As he floated in this sea of flowing energy, the man found a human-size orb of gold moved next to him. It neither menaced him, touched him nor tried communicating with him, the oblong egg just stayed there, waiting.

MacClean wasn't sure if he physically touched the golden orb or if his mind did, either way a girlish giggle was the response. He withdrew his contact but it wasn't long before the golden orb moved a little closer, numerous thin threads of its liquid energy spin out from it and lightly touched his being and his mind felt many emotions: curiosity, delight and admiration, then a feminine voice asked, "Can you hear me?" 

"Yes," MacClean answered although he wasn't sure how he was able to hear the voice or how he was able to answer.

"Do you understand where you are?" a mother's gentleness in the words.

"I think my consciousness is inside the Druid Sun?" MacClean's words were both an answer and a question.

"The object you call the Druid Sun is a device," there was much care taken in using each word, "its function is to allow access to my Star Seed, to me and to my home."

"Who are you and what is a Star Seed?" MacClean knew a part of him wasn't in Kansas anymore.

"I'm called Otaiyo," then amusement came into the voice, "the one playing with you is my musume, Ohiten."

"Playing!" the girlish giggle came again as MacClean reacted to the implications, "I didn't mean to!"

"It's alright, Anthony," a mother's happiness in Otaiyo's words, "Ohiten is very playful, its why I allowed her to meet you first."

"Oh," it was at this point the golden threads slowly withdrew and went back into the golden orb.

"As for the Star Seed," Otaiyo's voice became authoritative, "it is the manifestation of my spirit upon your world and throughout the human era, one human person has carried it within him or her."

"Why?" MacClean had a feel this is why the Dark Kingdom and Sailor V was after it.

"At my birth, at the birth of each star, children like my Ohiten are born within it," a calm patience in Otaiyo's reply, "and if other children are born on the worlds surrounding the star, the Star Seed is sent there to protect all the children from harm caused by wayward beings."

This answer sharpened MacClean's mind and he said, "the aliens."

"Only certain ones you call aliens truly are," Otaiyo corrected, "I'm sure if you met my Ohiten under different conditions you would be calling her an alien."

"True," again the girlish giggles came and it made MacClean wondered if Ohiten was her people's version of a teenager.

"Now we come to part where you must decide," softness came into Otaiyo's voice, "if you will accept the burden of my Star Seed."

MacClean heard a young wordless mutter but it was the words used by Otaiyo that made MacClean ask, "You speak of your Star Seed as a burden, why?"

"There are limits as to when the Star Seed can be used," a quietness to Otaiyo's voice, "and when it is accessed the carrier's mind is rendered unconscious so the Star Seed won't corrupt him or her."

"Mom!" MacClean instantly knew the source of the giggles was from this young voice, "I wouldn't do that!"

"I know, my darling young one," a mother's hard love in the voice, "but the memories you carry could harm his memories and the power you have could corrupt."

This exchange hit MacClean squarely between the eyes, "Ohiten is to become your Star Seed."

"It is a great honor," strength in Ohiten's voice, "to be selected."

"Only by your calling can Ohiten come forth and transform your body," the older voice seemed to know MacClean's reservations at having someone else using his body, "and once the need for her is gone, she will return to her place within you."

MacClean still had some reservations about this arrangement but then something else occurred to MacClean and he gave it words, "Won't Ohiten be lonely?"

"I will be able to watch through your eyes the world," Ohiten answered, "and once the carrier dies by natural means, I will return to here."

"That could be a problem," a warning tone to MacClean's voice, "I'm not a normal human being."

"I know as does Ohiten," a mother's care in Otaiyo's voice, "your uniqueness made me select you."

The impact of her words made MacClean remember Minako's comment about him having red hair and he asked with shock, "Was I preordained to be this carrier?"

"No," a gentle reply came from Otaiyo, "only the first one of this time to be offered this choice."

MacClean was sure that wasn't a complete answer but he carefully weighed the offer and he realized something, "Does that mean the Druid Sun becomes mine?"

"It will belong to you by inheritance," Otaiyo calmly answered but her tone showed she knew MacClean's train-of-thought.

This answer crystallized MacClean's decision and he said, "So how is it done?"

In answer Ohiten moved forward and her gold body surrounded MacClean's being, to him it felt similar to the sun's plasma that had flowed around him during their conversation yet like the Ohiten's gold threads, there was a different nature to it like her consciousness changed it. In an instant everything went black.

MacClean opened his eyes to find himself in a small metal room with a round window to his right and an oblong door on his left, then he realized he was sitting, his pants were at his ankles and his butt was on something round. It took a moment for his confused mind to adjust to the fact he saw clouds outside the window before he said to himself, "I'm on a jetliner but where?" at this point his gray vision saw the letter next to the washbasin. With his left hand he picked it up and felt there were several objects inside as well as a letter, so he tore a corner open and held the opening over his other hand, out came his visa and his passport as well as two more for a young Asian woman with bronze skin, waist length red hair and white eyes, the name on those two were Ohiten Rogers. After MacClean studied the craftsmanship of the forged visa and passport, identified it with a man he knew in Bristol, the blond man fished out the letter and started to read Nihongo words:

"I'm sorry for the shock this first awakening has caused you but I couldn't let your friend capture you and take the Druid Sun from you. Don't worry about Minako, the only thing I harmed of hers was her dignity. I also decided I had a better chance of getting us back home to Nihon, so I used your knowledge to forge a visa and passport for me as well some of your funds to buy a ticket. I also didn't get a chance to thank you for accepting me into your already complicated life, Ohiten Rogers."

Since that occurrence MacClean tried to use the Druid Sun two times to activate Ohiten but nothing happened, so he decided to treat the Star Seed like a secret weapon that could only be used in special circumstances. 'Maybe this is one of them,' MacClean reasoned. He relaxed his body and his mind as his gray eyes focus on the yellow diamond, a moment later a rose soft kiss upon his right cheek awoke him and he found his vision filled by a gold radiance and a few steps from him stood a beautiful young girl with long red hair, white iris eyes and honey colored skin that also showed she was as naked as a jay bird.

MacClean quickly averted his eyes although he wasn't sure why it felt wrong for him to see Ohiten like this, then he said, "Could you please put some clothes on?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Anthony," real regret in Ohiten's English words, "I'm such a ding-a-ling," now admonishment was in her tone, "I made the same mistake when I had my passport photo taken and now I did it again," a few seconds passed before she said, "you can look now."

MacClean looked up to find Ohiten dressed in a midnight blue kimono with twelve-point stars of various colors on it and he got up while she asked, "Since I'm going to live in Japan with you, I thought a traditional dress was in order. Do you like it?"

"Yes," MacClean's heart was warmed by how her face looked like his, then he felt sadness because her Asian eyes and her small nose reminded him of someone else.

"Anthony, I didn't mean to hurt you!" shame in Ohiten's voice at the sadness she saw in his gray eyes, "I only meant to honor you and Rumiko, it's why I used your surname," a youth's confused fright in her eyes, "I'll change . . . "

"No, Ohiten, it's fine," MacClean banished the pain from his spirit and his hands took hold of the young one's slim shoulders, "you're a wish made true."

As quick as it had left delight returned to Ohiten's face and she gave MacClean a full body hug, followed by her heartfelt words, "Rumiko is so much a part of your life and I saw how much it hurt both of you to be just friends," then she looked into MacClean's eyes, "so I wanted to make you both feel like a papa and a mama."

"I'm proud you think of me as your papa," then MacClean's smile became a grin, "although Rumiko might die of shock if she finds she's a mama to a tanned juvenile delinquent."

"You're just as bad as Mom," Ohiten pouted before her expression changed to one of expectation, "So, what's the job."

"I presume by your answering my call," MacClean probed, "that you have an inkling of what I'm asking you to do."

"You want me to make contact with the Jurain princess in a sneaky way," her face took on a foxy look, "so you can find out what this Masaki Ayeka Jurai is really like."

"I think you would have a better chance than I do," a professional embarrassed tone entered MacClean's voice, "especially since I lost my . . . eh . . . "

"Your tits," Cheshire Cat's grin on Ohiten's face.

"Watch your language, girl," MacClean waved his right index finger in front of Ohiten's nose, "the First Princess of Jurai is a very proper young lady and won't loosen up around someone who uses rude grammar or vague words like tits and cunt."

"Okay, Okay, Dad," she kissed the tip of the finger followed by a smaller version of the Cheshire Cat's grin, "I'll watch my Ps and Qs."

"As you already know, the Jurain princess will be leaving tomorrow for Tokyo, so she can search for clues to the whereabouts of someone named Yosho," MacClean saw the electrified interest in the golden girl's face, "and she will be alone."

"Giving me a chance to become buddy-buddy with her," a gamester's delight in her white eyes.

"Watch your step, Daughter," concern in MacClean's tone, "she isn't stupid and she's a trained warrior with a hair-trigger temper."

Ohiten's heart filled her gaze, placed her hands upon his forearms and she bounced up and down on her toes, saying, "You called me daughter!"

MacClean grinned hugely at Ohiten's happiness, then she stopped her dance and her face took on a youth's confidence as she said, "Don't worry Dad, even in my disguised form I can still use your abilities and skills," then a reckless tone edged her next words, "and because the princess is an alien, if things get rough I can transform to my revealed form."

"You mustn't hurt the princess," a father's seriousness in MacClean's voice, "even though she is a young woman, her powers and inherited influence could make a difference in keeping the flame of liberty burning."

"I won't hurt a hair-on-her-head," Ohiten promised but then she gave MacClean a foxy look, "just remember that power attracts power and there are other things in Tokyo that could menace her."

"Why do I have a feeling," a resigned look on MacClean's face, "that Ayeka is about to step through the looking glass."

"Goodnight, Dad," Ohiten hugged MacClean again, "I'll see you in five days."

"Goodnight, Daughter," with that MacClean's sight went black.

********

Notes: Because of fanfiction.net KB limit, my notes are at the end of the TMFFA version of this chapter.


	5. Strange Days, Part Five: Fire and Rain

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo/No Need For Tenchi is a product of Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this wonderful series.

Disclaimer: The X-Flies is the product of Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this excellent series.

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess and You're Under Arrest are the product of Kosuke Fujishima, What's Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi, Ranma 1/2 is the product of Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor V is the product of Takeuchi Naoke and Nancy Drew is the product of Carolyn Keene. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of these excellent series.

Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear in this series. All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure coincidence.

Notes: This is Chapter Five of Book Two in my crossover series, Strange Days. I would appreciate any C&C about this work. My two E-mail addresses are:

V_Bashaw@hotmail.com

Horosha@mangablast.com

The events in Book Two occur just after Episode Four ("Mihoshi Falls To The Land of Stars") and in the first season of the X-Flies (both taking place in 1992). If anyone is interested in using any of the characters I have created here, please contact me first (especially about Anthony MacClean). My knowledge of the training and organizational structure of law enforcement in Nihon has increased but at times I'm still assuming it is similar to ours. If you have questions about the story or how I portrayed the characters please read the notes at the end of each chapter and Book One, contact me at my e-mail addresses or post a message at the Ayeka Fan Club message board (www.ayekafanclub.org). I have created a glossary of Nihongo words, idioms and titles to help readers understand them. You can get it at TMFFA (tmffa.com under Crossover) or send me e-mail requesting it. My prereaders for Book Two are K.T.K. (carryover from Book One), Donald Dortmund, Fuzzy-Bunny (another carryover) and Top_Quark. Also Luriko-Ysabeth helped me on usage of Nihongo in fanfiction.

Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi Muyo to life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajshima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko, and Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Carter for his great series.

Warning: Just like the Tenchi Muyo OAV and the X-Flies this work contains adult language and situations (including some ecchi scenes), so any minor should get parents' permission before reading it.

********

Tenchi Muyo/X-Flies Crossover

Series Title: "Strange Days"

Book Two Title: "Fire and Rain"

A Fan-Fiction by Horosha

Copyright: Oct 9, 2002

Chapter Four: Sunday Bloody Sunday

Seniwa, Mihoshi's Homeworld

Feminine laughter filled the family den of the Kuramitsu mansion as Mihoshi sat in her favorite chair watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" on the wall television set. Unlike the rest of the ancestral home, the family den was small and friendly with its light stained wood paneling, thick forest green carpet and filled with the personal items of the current occupants. Not reaching the same volume as his sister, Kuramitsu Mikumo none-the-less couldn't stop snickering at the action on the screen. As he brushed joyful tears from his green eyes, Mikumo saw his sister's ebony right hand playing with a white ring box she had fished out of her pale yellow blouse pocket. With joy tinted with seriousness, he asked, "Himawari, you finally doing it?"

"Oh?" Mihoshi gave her sky blue pajama clad brother an off guard look before she felt the jeweler's box in her fingers and blushed furiously before shyly saying, "Yes."

"I wish Mama hadn't dumped so much grief on you about choosing your love-friend," the sounds of the movie faded to the background as Mikumo looked up at his sister from the tan beanbag he was laying on.

"It wasn't her fault," Mihoshi's blush reached the tips of her pointy ears.

"It's only because Dad didn't add his voice to Mama's," a note of pride in Mikumo's voice at his father's decision, "that you were able to wait two years to fulfill the Aikyoiku (Love Teaching)."

"I had to," Mihoshi's sapphire eyes refused to look away from the little box.

"Dad knew that which is why he suffered Mama's urgings in silence," a trace of envy in Mikumo's tone, "and Mama would've known it too if it wasn't for the fact that the person you're waiting for isn't Seniwa."

"I know," Mihoshi's words like a soft breeze, "it's by the Aikyoiku we learn to share our body, our spirit, with another."

"So when the marriage bond is formed between two Seniwajins," Mikumo finished his sister's statement with the traditional description of the ritual, "both will know what love is and are skilled at answering its call," then a frown touched his ebony face, "although with my luck I'll end up with a girl with as much up stairs as her big-chest will . . . Hey!" without warning Mihoshi's free hand grab the green pillow from behind her neck and nailed her brother's blond-haired head with a skillful throw.

"That wasn't a nice thing to say about Fudeyo," Mihoshi gave her brother a disappointed look.

"Mama has invited Fudeyo over here almost every day since I turned thirteen!" Mikumo missed his sister with the same square missile because she ducked behind her chair.

"Let your heart find someone for you," Mihoshi fired the pillow back to her brother plus two of its cousins.

"You already got her!" Mikumo jumped backward and landed behind the almond-colored couch where he quickly gathered a small mound of pillows.

"I saw Kiyone first!" retorted Mihoshi in a playful tone for she knew of her brother's puppy-love crush for Kiyone since the moment the teal-haired girl had become a member of their household.

"Does that mean you'll marry her?" Mikumo used his newest piece of ammo in his brother-sister rivalry.

"Huh?" Mihoshi froze like a deer in the headlights, which allowed her brother's blanket attack of four missiles to knock her off her bare feet.

Mikumo was up from behind the couch and about to add a finishing salvo as Mihoshi grabbed two fluffy pillows to deflect his missiles when both stopped at the sound of hearty laughter and turned to look at its source, but what caused the goldfish looks on their faces was what Kiyone was wearing, a dress.

It had taken a good part of a year for Mihoshi to get Kiyone to let her hair grow long but she absolutely refused to wear any feminine attire beyond white panties and bra, going to school wearing the boy's uniform, and you could forget about her wearing any kind of makeup. Yet here was the dark blue-eyed girl in a lime green sundress with her hair in a heavy braid that coiled around her slim neck. It was at this moment her laughter finished with her saying, "Are you two fighting over me again?"

"Kiyone, you're lovely," Mihoshi's words all caught up in wonder, Mikumo nodded his agreement.

Kiyone's right hand touched her embarrassed smile before mumbling, "Mitoto said that since this was my first day as a woman, I should dress like one."

Mikumo's green eyes gain a suspicious gleam over his mother's words and involvement but those same words remaindered Mihoshi of the small jewel box in her chestnut pants' pocket. She took out the white box, held it with both hands toward Kiyone and asked, "Kiyone, I have something to ask you."

"What would that be, Mihoshi?" the fourteen-year-old girl placed her right hand in her sundress right pocket.

"Would you . . . could you . . . " Mihoshi's endless courage almost gave up the ghost, "be my love-friend for the Aikyoiku?" her right hand opened the box's lid to show a plain gold ring with her name inscribed upon it in a silvery script.

"Only on one condition," Kiyone countered as she smoothly walked from the living room's entrance to stand within Mihoshi's reach. From the sidelines, Mikumo saw the quiet confidence in Kiyone's eyes was matched by the overflowing hope in his sister's eyes, both faces glowed in the candlelight that his mother liked to use at night. At this moment Kiyone brought out her own ring box from her right pocket as she continued, "If you would be my love-friend for the Aikyoiku."

"You've decided to become Seniwa?" Mikumo words more a statement than a question.

"Mitoto asked what my birthday meant to me and I told her it was the day I would become a Seniwa," then a painful edge tone entered Kiyone's voice, "there is nothing of my past that I want to return to."

"Mama told you about the Aikyoiku?" Mikumo's voice was full of intrigue.

"Mitoto said that it was the first important step to becoming a Seniwa," Kiyone's voice ringing with passion, "then she asked who would I choose for my love-friend," Kiyone's pink hand opened her small box to reveal a plain gold ring with her name inscribed upon it in a silvery script, "and I replied it could only be the person who gave me this new life."

Ecstasy's threads kept Mihoshi motionless as Kiyone took her ring out of its case with her right hand, "You who tutored me letters and equations until midnight," her left hand carefully lifted up Mihoshi's right hand, "you who held me when my dreams were full of darkness," and she slipped the metal band upon Mihoshi's ring finger, "you who helped me kick some serious butt when the school bullies got nasty," then she looked deeply into the Mihoshi's baby blues, "will you use your lips to teach mine, will you use your hands to teach mine and will you use your spirit to teach mine?"

The touch of Kiyone's breath upon her face brought clarity to Mihoshi's orbs and her right hand retrieved her ring from its case before she said, "When was the day you found a home in my heart," she took Kiyone's right hand with her left, "it was the day you encircled my soul with your own," she slipped the metal band upon Kiyone's ring finger, "when was the day you gave balance to my mind," and she returned her sight to Kiyone eyes, "it was the day you place your trust in me," then she took Kiyone's hands in her own before saying, "we will teach each other how to kiss, we will teach each other how to caress, we will teach each others' spirits to fly."

The two young women carefully leaned forward and their lips brushed awkwardly twice, due to their love struck eyes before a delicate kiss was shared. It was then Mikumo said the finishing lines of the beginning of the Aikyoiku, "Let the blessings of the five elements be upon both of you," both Mihoshi and Kiyone heard the heartbreaking tone in his voice, "wood for the ship that will carry you both over stormy seas, metal for the sword that you will use to protect your love-friend, fire for the torch to light your two's path, earth to grow your food so neither will know hunger and water so you both can quench the other's thirst," by the end of these words, tears were upon his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Mikumo," Kiyone's joyful face touched with regret at the boy's sorrow.

"Me too, Brother," Mihoshi let go of Kiyone's hands so she could walk over and gave Mikumo a sisterly hug, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"At least as your witness," Mikumo tried very hard to reign in his feelings, "I had a chance to be a part of yours and Kiyone's Aikyoiku."

"And you did a wonderful job," Kiyone's smiled as she stepped over to brother and sister, leaned down and kissed Mikumo's right cheek.

Instantly scarlet spread from that cheek to the rest of Mikumo's face and he stuttered out, "Tha . . . Thanks."

"Already trying to make me jealous?" Mihoshi teased.

"I would never do that," Kiyone's smile became wicked as she leaned over Mikumo and hungrily kissed Mihoshi's dusky lips. Startled only for a moment Mihoshi quickly responded to Kiyone's aggressive kiss with her arms encircling her friend's neck while the other woman's hands held the ebony woman's shoulders, their mouth-to-mouth passion turned into a five-minute contest of whose tonsils was going to get sucked out first.

When their lips parted Kiyone looked happily dazed while all Mihoshi could gasp was an out-of-breath, "Wow."

Any other response was interrupted by the thump of Mikumo's body onto the hardwood floor, with his eyes spaced out and two rivers of blood from his nose. In a surprised voice Mihoshi said, "I think Mikumo was caught between our bosoms."

"What clued you," Kiyone couldn't stop her body shaking sneakers, "the

mother-of-all-noise-bleeds?" then her laughter burst out and was quickly joined by Mihoshi's own giggles.

"Himawari, it's time to greet the new day," Mihoshi heard a voice she

recognized as Seto's.

In her sky blue, white bunnies-covered pajamas, Mihoshi popped straight up in her futon and she looked about with alert eyes, only to find a smiling Seto standing a few feet out of harm's way and the first rays of dawn lightening the early morning. Now that her roommate was awake, Seto put away her own futon while saying, "If you want to do some shopping, we need to be ready when Nobuyuki-san leaves for work."

Mihoshi remembered the last-minute request she made to Nobuyuki, for him to drop her off in downtown Kurashiki so she could do some shopping, Tenchi's father heartedly agreed and Seto volunteered to go with her. "Oke, Niji-dono," Mihoshi agreed as she got out of her futon and rolled it up.

"Himawari, did you have another happy dream," Seto asked casually as she slipped on her yellow robe and gathered her bathroom necessities.

Mihoshi hesitated as she held up her pink robe, "Nani?"

"The dawn's light showed your smiling lips moving," Seto explained.

"Hai, Niji-dono," an angel's smile upon Mihoshi's lips as she put on her robe and got her bathroom things, "I was dreaming of my Aikyoiku . . . " the last part coming out with a glowing warmth, "and Kiyone's."

Seto walked over and used her free hand to give her godchild as reassuring squeeze of the shoulder, "Never have I seen such a loving Aikyoiku couple as you two."

It was then Mihoshi went over to the top the room's dresser and her right-hand pickup a small steel chain with two gold rings upon it, then she said, "We started as friends, we became love-friends and then we became partners."

Seto heard the pain in Mihoshi's voice and so she said, "We better hurry to the furo before anyone else beats us to it," a sympatric tenderness on the older woman's face, "after all the running we did last night, everyone will want to take a quick bath before going to our separate destinations."

Mihoshi carefully put down the rings before she gave a girlish cry as she joined her godmother, "Ee, Niji-dono!"

********

Tomoki Gaijin House

It felt like the Seven Dwarfs had their mine in Mulder's skull before he realized what was making his head hurt was the knocking on his apartment's door. The room was still pitch black so he grabbed his sunglasses, put them on before he turned his lamp on. Thanks to his days at Oxford, the FBI agent knew he could stumble his way to the door without getting sick-to-his-stomach. When he opened his door, it was an amused Scully his weak eyes saw. Trying to deny his partner a quick barb, the disheveled man said, "Is Snow White here to round up her gang?"

Scully's emerald eyes sparkled with increased amusement at the badly draped woody brown bathrobe on Mulder's body before a more serious look took over, "Lieutenant Michiyuki called, there's been another sighting of our fiery suspect," then her voice dropped down in volume, "and another body."

Mulder's mind became alert even with the pain between his ears, "So we might be dealing with a serial killer."

"Too early to tell, Mulder," Scully commented, "they might be unrelated."

Mulder's nose caught a whiff of his own booze-soaked sweat so he changed the subject, "Could you call room service and have them send up a liter of OJ for me, I'm going into the bathroom."

Scully nodded before saying, "I've already alerted Miss Tachibana at her home of the development," Scully paused to let Mulder realize she was talking about their secretary, "she said she'll be waiting in front of our residence to drive us to the train," it was then her gaze saw the bandaged finger, "what happened with your finger?"

Mulder frowned as he held up the wounded finger, saying, "Had a close

encounter of the furry kind."

Scully shook her head while saying, "You're just not a cat person."

"I just don't like the way they look at you," Mulder words full of antipathy, "like there's more behind their eyes than three cans of tuna and rat burgers."

"Well, I'll let you clean up and blow your brain clear with vitamin C," Scully said, "I'm going over to the udon shop that's next to our residence and wait for you there."

"See you then," Mulder told Scully before she turned and walked down the hallway toward the stairway, at the same time Mulder couldn't help but notice how happy and confident his partner's walk was, thinking, 'Something happened since I last saw her,' then a hangover grin found a place on his face, 'Nobuyuki.'

********

Konko, Nihon

In a sheltered gully of a hill, the cold light of dawn broke through its trees' autumn leaves to show a little boy upon the ground. Normal eyes would have noticed rag tag nature of the child's dark-blue school uniform, pity would have touched the heart of anyone at the way the body seemed like a skeleton with skin over it. Once this was the body of eight-year-old Togashi Osamu, once it was the home of a young spirit with a world to explore, but now it contained a being created by Kagato.

Kuraihoshi opened the shell's eyes as he thought, 'At last, light!' The dark creature had attempted to cut across country to reach his destination but his senses became confused by the constant motion of his target, which caused him to become lost in the wooded foothills, by the time he found a road the light of the day was gone. During this time the being had fed upon insects and small woodland animals to keep the body's energy up but with the lost of the body's sight to night, the shell's endurance had ebbed to a point where he had to suspend action until morning or find himself inside an unmoving corpse.

This situation became crystal clear when a simple act of getting on its feet caused the savage hunger of Kagato's creature to increase tenfold, 'I must feed!'

It was at this point Kuraihoshi felt vibrations from the ground and heard a windy noise. This occurrence had happened several times during the night but his caution had stopped him from investigating it. Now the being walked through the trees' long shadows to crest the hill and his gaze at the sight below brought one happy word to his childish voice, "Food."

At a half-a-mile distance and a little to the dark creature's right was a town of small buildings and mostly empty streets but what got his attention most was the long building with a very long metal machine next to it, on both ends of the large machine was a ribbon of steel that ran out of sight. With a bare attempt at not getting its neck broken, Kuraihoshi pushed the body to a near reckless run down the hill and down a dusty path between the harvested rice fields. As the distance between him and the machine lessened, he could tell it was divided into equal sized parts with the first part a little larger than the others were. When Kuraihoshi reached the tracks, he leaped over them but then suddenly changed his direction and started to run down the tracks toward the big machine, originally his hunger drove him toward the town but now his eyes found a richer source of food for he saw people entering the mechanism.

During this whole run Kuraihoshi felt the body's energy level dropping at a frightening pace and when he reached the elevated platform, he stumbled on the dark green painted steps. Again he pushed the body to its feet and made for the closest victim.

Kuraihoshi's target entered the train's first passengers' car and doors begun to close when the small body darted in. Looking down the heavyset man in his light-blue salaryman suit saw a waif of a boy whose school uniform draped his body like sackcloth. "Kodomo, doka ka?" concern in his brown eyes, "are you sick?"

Horror stabbed the man's soul when the child's face turned up for he saw a skull covered with paper thin skin, twigs snared in the little one's black hair and brown eyes burning with malevolence, before he could recover from the shock the boy's hands grabbed his right hand. The man's mouth dropped open but no scream passed his lips as his life force was consumed and his body became Kuraihoshi's.

"Kya!" a thirty-something woman in a white salarywoman's suit shouted when she saw the boy's body drop to the metal floor like a sack of bones. The woman with long black hair knelt next to the fallen body and shook it with both hands but her distress turned to surprise when a hard hand gripped the back of her neck. Fleeting fear froze her mind as her body and life force was taken from her.

The balding high school teacher next to the woman had decided to ignore what was happening, it wasn't his problem. His reward for his jadedness was wide-eyed astonishment when the woman grabbed his butt. He opened his mouth but words of disgust never came because his body became a shell for Kagato's creature, the woman's hand made a dull thump as it hit the rubber mat on the floor while her body sagged in its kneeling position.

With the edge taken off his hunger, Kuraihoshi decided to take pleasure from his feeding. A scan of the other passengers showed to him that those able to see the three bodies are undecided about what to do or chose to bury their heads in the sand. It was from the undecided that he picked his next target, a young woman with an angelic face surrounded by reddish brown hair. The woman's black eyes jerked up and looked at the taller man when he blocked her sight of the bodies on the floor. Kuraihoshi had noted the emotional response from the former soul of the body he now occupied when he grabbed its butt, so with a depraved gleam in its eyes the shell's hands cupped and squeezed the ass cheeks of the aforementioned woman. Instantly the indecisive look on the woman's face changed to icy outrage at the man's hands underneath her bright yellow miniskirt but then this feeling gave way to bewilderment as she felt something alien enter her mind. Fear was her first reaction as she felt a piece of her consciousness disappear then a wave of pleasure fired her body before terror hit again as another bit of her soul was eaten. One by one her inhibitions were paired away so the waves of eroticism shake, rattle and roll her body into greater arousal, finally multiple orgasms were the last thing her animalistic mind experienced before it too was consumed.

With his new shell still ignited by sexual fire, Kuraihoshi turned slowly around to assess the reaction of the crowd and he found many of the male passengers had bulges where their sexual organs were located while some of the female passengers' faces were flushed. Those unable to see what was going on were craning their necks to find out while others just paid no mind of what was happening around them. Kuraihoshi's hunger was sated but with the biological energy trapped with him and his taste for abominable delight only wetted, the creature made the new shell seize the closest man's stiff manhood but unlike his earlier victims he didn't move his being from the woman's body to the man's body, instead he simply freed the man from his restraints and then inflamed his unrestricted body with sexual hunger. With a quick command to his shell and the infected man, the two clasp hands while their free hands touched the persons next to them, allowing Kuraihoshi to move along the fleshy chain, each new victim lost whatever made him or her a moral being, turning each one into a demented beast of carnal desire. Kuraihoshi took pleasure at how some tried to flee from what they saw happening, hid in the car's corners, but the crowded nature of the sardine can make this a temporary solution, yet what left him puzzled was how some just didn't do anything as they were corrupted, they either stood or sat in bland acceptance of their fate or seemed unwilling to allow anything from pushing them outside their normal routine.

After the last passenger was transformed Kuraihoshi pulled back into the woman in the yellow miniskirt and released his control over the changed humans. Time didn't matter for them, family didn't matter for them and work didn't matter for them, only their lust mattered. Kuraihoshi leaned against the car's doors, a wolf's grin upon the shell's pretty face while he watched his circus of wantonness, if any of his handiwork attacked him his shell's light touch was enough for him to suck out what was left of their life force. The car was filled with the moans and shouts of orgasms mixed with repetitive slaps of naked flesh upon naked flesh, along with the giggling sounds as some greedly swallowed semen down their throats or painful pleasurable cries cut from both genders' lips as blood seeped from clawed flesh.

Twenty minutes later the San-yo train pulled into the Funao train station right on time. Most of the half-awaked commuters on the platform didn't notice the woman in the miniskirt getting off but the cobwebs of some of the riders were ripped away by the sight, sound and smell of depravity they found in one of the passenger cars. In nothing flat the train station attendants hurried toward screams of help and the fleeing of people from savage attackers, quickly the station chief phoned the train's engineer to prevent him from leaving for his next destination. Soon the morning peacefulness was broken by the sound of sirens.

********

Hanawa Kazuichi Machiya

Maiko Kobington joyfully breathed in the morning air, she loved its after storm freshness and it made her feel all bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed for today's work as Rumiko's assistant. Besides carrying her Sailor Moon umbrella the young woman also had a small gift wrapped in decorative cloth, twelve homemade pecan-tarts. She wouldn't be the only one of Rumiko's helpers to bring something tasty to work today, as a way to show their combined happiness over the day off the little lady had given them. They knew about her date with Antony MacClean but that didn't stop them from feeling a little guilty over Rumiko's generous heart and there was always a chance that Rumiko might tell them the highlights of her date over tea and treats.

After she took off her shoes at the front entrance genkan and hung her

umbrella and coat on the rack, Maiko began her stocking-footed trek to

Rumiko's apartment door when she was stopped by a most unlikely sight, it wasn't the girl's red rose colored hair or the way the Van Gogh stars upon the full length dress were so perfect for her tall body, what brought wonderment to Maiko was the skin that the fiery hair framed and the dress that surrounded it. Maiko had seen people from Africa, America and many other places but none with skin like molten gold. It was at this point a creaking floorboard caused the girl to jump and Maiko discovered her own curiosity had given her cat's feet so that she was just a few feet from the youngster. The strange girl faced Maiko and the chestnut-haired girl's mouth dropped open at the youth's eyes, orbs like twin drops of white sunlight. Then the older woman's recognized the teenager's mouse-caught-by-a-cat expression and she saw Rumiko's kanji name on the envelope the girl held close to her chest with both hands.

Maiko's shock melted to pity, 'A humble otaku of Rumiko's stories,' she thought before she bowed while saying, "Konnichiwa, are you here to see Takahashi-san?"

The strange girl bit her lower lip as she nodded, then her white eyes went wide as she caught her discourtesy to Maiko, so she returned the bow before saying, "I'm Ohi . . . eh . . . Rogers Ohiten."

'She's a gaijin like me,' Maiko thought before she realized how obvious this statement was, then she put friendliness in her words, "Don't worry about Takahashi-san, she really likes to meet her fans," Maiko was a little puzzled that her words didn't relieve Ohiten's fear but at this point she could only give a mental shrug as she went to Rumiko's door and knocked on it.

"Dare?" asked a female voice.

Annoyance appeared in Maiko's eyes and in her words, "How does she get here before I do," then her volume increased, "Every time?"

"Maiko-chan, is that you?" the same voice asked.

"Hai, Takagi-san," resignation in Maiko's voice.

The door slid open and a young woman in a long-sleeved lavender shirt and matching pants stood on the other side, the hurtful tone of her voice was betrayed by the playful look on her almond-shaped face, "Maiko-chan, you know how much pain you cause me when you don't call me Reiko-chan," then she leaned forward so her pointy nose touched Maiko's, "I mean, we've known each other for such a long time."

Nervous sweat broke out on Maiko's forehead but any further discussion ceased when Rumiko, in a green-and-white striped dress, clapped her hands as she joined them, "Break it up, ojosan, we've got a deadline to meet in three . . ." her words died due the sight of the strange girl trying very hard to hide her tall frame behind the shorter Maiko, then she asked in an astonished tone, "Maiko-san, ano onna no ko we dare desu ka (Maiko, who is that girl?)."

Happy for the distraction Maiko turned so she could see both Rumiko and Ohiten at the same time before replying, "Rumiko-san, this is Rogers Ohiten. I believe she's here to see you?"

Taking a nervous swallow Ohiten stepped around Maiko, then she bowed her head and held the letter out to Rumiko, both Maiko and Reiko saw Rumiko's eyes widen at the sight of her name on the envelope. Suddenly Maiko was yanked off her feet and dragged into Rumiko's apartment by Reiko, where the brown-eyed girl angrily shouted, "NANI?"

"Be as calm as a baby, Maiko-chan," Reiko put her right index finger to her lips, "let's give them some privacy," then a dreamy look filled her face as looked over her shoulder to the two in the hallway, "this is a big day for both of them."

"What do you mean, Takagi-san?" Maiko asked as she watched Rumiko take the envelope from Ohiten's trembling hands and opened it.

"Look at the ojosan," a look of knowing on Reiko's face.

Maiko looked but she only saw the teenager's bizarre body, "So?"

"Look at the ojosan's face," Reiko patiently said, "Carefully."

Maiko focused on Ohiten's face but found it hard not to be drawn in by

teenager's white irises, eyes full of fear as she waited while Rumiko read the letter, then Rumiko looked up from the letter, reached up with her left hand, tenderly touched the multitude of tiny gold crosses hanging from a single earring on the girl's right ear and Rumiko whispered a single word that neither Maiko nor Reiko could hear. The touch of Rumiko's hand and her word had an unexpected result, Ohiten's head tilted up with eyes closed, tears split from her eyes as a happy smile found her face and then she crouched down so her five-foot-six-inch body wouldn't tower over Rumiko's

four-foot-eight-inch body as she hugged her, immediately the older woman

returned the hug. It was at the point where Ohiten closed her eyes that Maiko's black eyes filled with insight and she said in a hushed tone, "Shinjare'kka wa!"

"She looks so much like them ne," pure joy in Reiko's tone.

"Ara . . . ano . . . itsu (when)?" confusion evident in Maiko's broken words.

"I've been with Rumiko-san for ten years," Reiko grinned before she continued, "how old would you say is Rogers-san?"

"Fourteen maybe fifteen," then Maiko's eyes reached flying saucer size, "I didn't know Takahashi-san and MacClean-san knew each other that long."

"Rumiko-san has been here since nineteen-seventy-six and Kawatta-san moved in the same year," Reiko nodded her head, "although I wonder where they've been hiding her?"

"I think with MacClean-san's relatives in Amerika," a questioning look

appeared on Reiko's face before Maiko explained, "She almost forgot to return my bow this morning when we first met and she caught herself saying her given name first."

"So she only recently came to Nihon," Reiko pondered, "I wonder why?"

"You wonder what, Reiko-neechan?" the light voice of Fuku Kuzuha, the youngest of Rumiko's assistants, called out as she inched her way around the two embracing women, she was followed by Haruko Ashiya, the newest member of Rumiko's assistants, then Fuko added when she saw Ohiten's face, "Maiko-neechan, who's the ko gyaru (trendy girl)?"

"Aaaa . . . Takahashi-san will explain things to you when you're older," Maiko remembered Fuko was only eleven-years-old.

"Oi," Fuko blushed because of the connotations that statement usually meant.

The four females saw Ohiten and Rumiko part and the tall girl reached to one side and pick up an overnight suitcase from one side of the hallway, then the teenager gave an energetic bow which the older woman returned. Then she lightly ran to the front door, where she put on her high-heel shoes and slipped on a heavy white coat. Rumiko watched Ohiten go before she turned back to her four assistants and then said, "Does anyone has any questions?"

All four females looked at each other, then all of them held out packaged goodies and said in union, "How about some tea and treats?"

Rumiko smiled at the warm friendship these four girls gave her as she closed her apartment door.

**********

Masaki Residence

Ayeka finished packing her overnight suitcase with the necessities needed for her five-day excursion to Tokyo, she had just heard Mihoshi and Seto return from their trip to the bathroom so Ayeka decided it was her turn. As she entered the hallway, the princess heard the door down the passageway open and close, it didn't take long for a sleepy Tenchi to enter her vision as he turned to head for the upstairs benjo, then he stopped suddenly when he found himself face-to-face with Ayeka, she was the first to say, "Ohayo,

Tenchi-sama."

"Ohayo, Ayeka-san," Tenchi searched for something more to say but could only come up with, "It was an interesting night, na?"

"Ee," Ayeka agreed.

Tenchi heard the guarded tone of Ayeka's reply so he asked, "Is something wrong?"

Ayeka saw Tenchi's openness to her worry, so she said, "I'm just not sure of the flowers I allowed to bloom last night."

"You mean the friendship between Sasami-chan and Ryoko," Tenchi guessed, both of them hadn't noticed that the background noise from Mihoshi's and Seto's room had died down.

"Tenchi-sama, it is more than just friendship that is developing between them," Ayeka's ruby eyes reflected the worry in her voice, "the feelings that are developing between them are like those between an okasama and her musume, like those between a oneesama and her imotosama."

"But we had to help Ryoko," Tenchi's tone became defensive, "and Sasami-chan was the only one who could."

"I know and it was the right thing to do," Ayeka's acknowledgment only seemed to increase her fear, "but Tenchi-sama, you must remember that no matter how close Sasami and Ryoko-san are," a hard edge came to Ayeka's words, "there will be others who will see Ryoko-san as nothing more than an uchu kaizoku."

"Like you?" Tenchi blurted out then he smacked his right hand over his mouth, an apologetic look in his wide eyes.

"Honto ne," Ayeka nodded her head, "there are those like me, Tenchi-sama, who were wronged by Ryoko-san," a bitter smile touched her lips, "and while I have said I will try to forgive her, many won't."

"Ayeka-san, you fear that Ryoko's past will catch up with her," Tenchi's words took on a note of worry, "and Sasami-chan will be hurt because of it."

"Sasami thinks and acts with her heart," Ayeka looked down at her hands before she looked back up at the young man, pride replaced the worry in her voice, "Yet it is because of it she is able to hit our hearts and bring the best out of us," then a drop of acid entered her words, "even an oni onna like Ryoko-san isn't immune to Sasami."

Ayeka saw a flash of disappointment in Tenchi's face and she asked, "You didn't like what I just called Ryoko-san," Tenchi slowly nodded his head which strengthen the princess' inquisitiveness, "yet she was responsible for burning down your school and for what happened at the onsen."

"I know Ryoko was partly responsible, Ayeka-san," Tenchi replied diplomatically, "but she did help us when we tried to recover the video tape and she watched over Sasami-chan when no one else could."

Ayeka heard the unfinished tone to Tenchi's words, "but there is something else ne?"

"Dewa . . . " just then Tenchi's bladder renewed its need to be empty, "Ara . . . I really must go to . . ." the young man pointed at the door to the up stair toilet.

The bitterness turned to sweetness in Ayeka's smile, saying, "And I must go to the furo before anyone else needs it."

On bare feet Ayeka went down the stairs to the hallway, passed the open entrance to the living room and into the furo without a noise louder than a creaking floorboard, it was enough.

Ryoko's ears twitched slightly at the sound of the creeks in the hallway, her mind roused from its cat-like slumber to a semi-woken state, but it was the perfume that Ayeka wore that cleared the rest of the cobwebs from the uchu kaizoku's mind, yet the sight the dawn's early light gave her amber eyes made her wonder if she was still in slumber land and dreaming. Finding herself on the living room couch with a warm comforter over her body wasn't what stunned the ample lady down to the roots of her soul, what brought confusion to her was the fact that her body was curled around the littlest princess of Jurai, her right shoulder a pillow for Sasami's head. The angelic peace on the child's freckled face melted the older woman's shocked expression into a troubled look as her thoughts tried to describe what she felt, 'I feel like I would rip out the tongue of anyone who'd make her cry, I would flay any who brought her pain and I would suffer any wound meant for her,' her lips trembled at the rawness of the emotions raging inside her, her mind going back to that moment when Sasami had called her sister.

The tremor of Ryoko's body awoke Sasami and her concerned eyes looked into the uchu kaizoku's confused eyes, saying, "Ryoko-neechan, are you oke?"

Ryoko quickly reigned in her emotions and slipped on her devilish grin as she replied, "I'm fine, Sasami-chan, although you're not the one I would want to wake up with."

It took a second or two for Ryoko's meaning to set off Sasami's giggles, then the littlest princess hugged the woman, saying, "We were so worried about you last night," then a serious note entered her young voice, "do you remember anything?"

Ryoko returned the embrace and as her head rested amongst the child's blue curls, she recounted to the child what had happened with the thief, at the end she said, "Something happened to me when I saw her clearly," Ryoko searched the right way to say her words, "an old nightmare seized me and I couldn't get away."

"Did it have something to do with your haha (mother)?" Sasami knew she was taking a big chance but she wanted so much for Ryoko to remember Washu.

Ryoko leaned back so her amber eyes could make contact with Sasami's pink amethyst eyes, surprise in the uchu kaizoku's voice, "Sasami-chan, why do you say that?"

"Dewa . . . " Sasami knew she had to tell the truth, "you called me okachan when I touched your head," then she blushed as she added in a small voice, "and after I climbed into bed with you."

Purposely misreading Sasami's blush Ryoko gave the littlest princess a serious look, "Ima, Ima, you're still an akachan," an absolute tone in her voice, "you should wait a few years and be more selective of whom you rezuru (dyke about) with."

Shocked by one of the few slang words she knew, Sasami's whole body blushed before she gave Ryoko an annoyed look when she felt the vibrations of Ryoko's silent laughter, but Ryoko's foxy grin fixed Sasami's mild ire and instead the pink-eyed wonder said, "Iie, baka wa, it's just my okasama would let me get into her, Funaho-okasama and otousama's bed when I had a bad dream," then Sasami put all her spirit into the smile she gave Ryoko, "this was my chance to be a haha for someone else."

Again Ryoko's feelings for Sasami's came storming back and she buried her head in Sasami's silky hair as she said, "I think my dream was about my okachan," her voice gaining a childlike quality to it, "a ja'akuna otoko put her in a glass pillar and my fists were too small to break her out," an icy wind blew through her soul, "when I attempted to use my Gems, he stopped me."

"Do you remember what she looked like?" sadness was in Sasami's voice.

Ryoko shook her head, saying, "only that she was small and had red hair," then her voice broke under the power of her sorrow, "but . . . that was . . . so long ago."

"Don't worry, Ryoko-neechan," Sasami's face and voice full of a child's certainty, "I will help you find your haha."

"As I would, Ryoko," Instantly both females on the sofa recognized the male voice.

"TEN . . . " Sasami dropped onto the couch as Ryoko disappeared from

underneath her only to reappear halfway to Tenchi, who just stepped off the living room staircase ". . . CHI!" she finished her shout as her clothes changed to her white-red-and-black seducer dress. Tenchi's eyes went from sympathy to surprise but he firmly stopped himself from filching when the cyan-haired woman's flying body snaked around his body and her hands warmly hugged him as her heartfelt words filled his ears, "Would you truly help me find my okachan?"

"Hai!" Tenchi was very firm in his answer, if everything else in this world caused him bewilderment the need for a mother's love wasn't one of them.

"Then anata, let me reward you," Ryoko sultrily purred while her legs parted so she could straddle his right thigh, "let me be a sheath for your chinhoko," her breasts rubbed against his chest, "let my rabujusu keep it oiled," her lips just a breath away from the boy's mouth, "let my eight mouths and eight hands keep it polished," her body took on a rhythmic up-and-down motion, "let my tongue keep its point sharp."

Tenchi felt his spirit torn between fear and want, between disgust and

delight, between rejection and acceptance, his hands moving up but he didn't know if it was to push her away or to embrace her, then he saw her eyes. The teasing look of the past weeks was not in those amber orbs nor the animal drive for raw pleasure that sometimes would make them glow, what the young man saw was a desperate longing for love, a need for the empty loneliness of her soul to be filled. The scales were moving.

Looking over the couch's armrest Sasami was getting an eye full of what was happening between Tenchi and Ryoko. While the uchu kaizoku's slangy words and innuendo went right over the littlest princess' head, her tone and what her body was doing to Tenchi's body spellbound the child. That spell suddenly broke when her little ears caught a hissing intake of air, which made her eyes the size of pink elephants for she knew who made that sound, even before she turned her head and found a furious Ayeka, the fire in her sister's eyes matched by bluish-white light that leaked from under her purple bangs. In a fluid motion Ayeka walked toward the entwined couple with her right-hand going back in an underhand motion and Sasami ducked behind the armrest when she saw the ball of energy in the hand.

Ryoko went into nirvana when she felt her butt grabbed by a hand, then the Jurain kicker went off. Ryoko's body shielded Tenchi's from the explosion so the young man was only sent rolling into the far corner underneath the stairs. The confused youth looked up with dazed brown eyes but found no hole in the ceiling where Ryoko had rocketed up then he looked at Ayeka and found to his surprise a very calm Jurain princess, examining her right hand for broken fingernails. A motion at the edge of his vision brought his attention to Sasami peaking over the couch then her head disappeared again.

"AYEKA!" Ryoko's shout made Tenchi's moon-sized eyes lock on the stiff-bodied Ryoko, who was face-to-face and floated a hand's width from the incredibly unruffled First Princess of Jurai. Ryoko was now in her blue-and-yellow stripped dress with her cattail as straight-as-an-arrow and all puffed out.

Ayeka crossed her arms over her stomach and looked Ryoko straight-in-the-eye before smoothly saying, "Ima that I got your attention," a feline growl came from Ryoko as Ayeka spoke, "I have a request to make of you," Ryoko's upper lip lifted to show gleaming fangs, unaffected the princess continued, "I would like you to watch over Sasami for me while I'm gone."

It was like someone had put an ice cube down the back of Ryoko's dress so quick was the turnaround from mayhem to utter surprise, then Ryoko's fury returned and she opened her mouth to tell Ayeka to go hump a tree but the words never came because the cyan-haired woman saw a pair of pink eyes staring into her amber eyes, eyes full of silent hope. Ryoko then remembered Tenchi, looked over her shoulder and found the unharmed young man still under the stairs, his face showed that he too was intently watching the two females and listening for Ryoko's reply. All of this breath holding by Tenchi and Sasami got Ryoko curious.

Seeing Ryoko's anger give way to confused wonderment Ayeka continued,

"Tenchi-sama must fulfill his obligation to go to school, Nobuyuki-san is going to work, Katsuhito-sama has the Masaki-jinja to take care of and the duty to help visiting worshippers, and obasama will be going into town with Mihoshi-san," there was now an edge of effort to Ayeka's tone, "we also saw clearly last night that there are individuals on this planet who can evade Azaka and Kamidake," Ryoko saw a flash of distaste in Ayeka's ruby gaze, "so I need someone who does not have any prior commitments, someone to watch over and protect Sasami."

"In other words," the impact of Ayeka's words brought a dancing merriment to Ryoko's eyes, "you need me."

"Although I put saliva upon my eyebrows," Ayeka couldn't stop her doubt from entering her words, "I find you to be the only solution to my worry of Sasami's safety."

For a moment Ryoko closed her eyes and Ayeka caught herself hoping that the uchu kaizoku was going to say no, Ayeka's anger at her own weakness steeled her spirit. A twinkle of bluish-white light locked her ruby eyes on Ryoko's Gem and her ears caught a sound from behind her, "Miya!" Ayeka turned slightly and found Ryo-ohki perched upon Sasami's head.

"Ryo-ohki and I will take care of Sasami-chan," a no-big-thing tone in Ryoko's answer, "but don't puff out your chest because I'm doing this for you, iie ne, Oujo-chan," smirked the ample woman.

"I don't care if you are doing this for me or not," a loathsome tone matched Ayeka's narrowed eyes, "just as long as you do it."

Ryoko's hot glare at Ayeka was about to be matched by her giving the

purple-haired princess the bird but she stopped as the sound of Sasami's quick feet and child's small hands hugged both the uchu kaizoku and the Saishono Oujosama Jurai, "Onegai shimasu! Ryoko-neechan! Ayeka-oneechan!" Sasami's wounded heart was in her cry.

"Miya!" a look of pleading in Ryo-ohki's face as she looked up at the two women from between Sasami's blue curls.

On impulse both Ayeka's left hand and Ryoko's right hand reached to place a comforting hand on Sasami's back and found their hands linking together. "Oi?" escaped from both women's lips and they looked at each other before small smiles touched their lips and they nodded to one another, "Sasami, could you get choshoku ready," love for Sasami in Ayeka's words, "I'm sure Nobuyuki-san will need every ounce of your good food so he can deliver us to our destinations."

Sasami looked up and carefully examined both women's faces for white lies while Ryoko said, "Don't worry, Akaruime, we'll be fine," Ryoko used Sasami's nickname, a good dose of charm and an American slang word that Sasami knew, "Honest Injun!"

Sasami smiled, nodded her head and then said, "Oke." The child gave a quick squeeze to both women before her small hands let go, both Ayeka and Ryoko watched the girl head for the kitchen on happy feet, then Tenchi passed by both of them while saying, "I better get into the furo before anyone else beats me to it."

Ayeka turned to watch Tenchi's retreating form with a troubled look on her face. Once more, her feelings of the young man made her wonder at her own commitment to marrying Yosho, these same feelings had resurfaced last night when she saw Tenchi slide down into the Ryoko's former prison, her spirit burned joyfully as her inner self saw the youth as another Prince Charming, but once more those same feelings were shown to be foolish and weak. 'I must find oniisama,' Ayeka's spirit felt as mixed up as her thoughts, 'I do not know how long my mind can moderate my heart.'

It was at this point Ryoko noticed that Ayeka wasn't in her usual attire but instead wore a dark-blue ankle-length skirt and a white long-sleeve shirt with two turtledoves embroidered upon each shoulder. Ryoko's amber eyes also saw the parade of emotions upon Ayeka's face and she decided to add her own two cents to the princess' silent words by reaching with her left hand and giving each of the royal highness hind cheeks a really good squeeze while whispering to Ayeka, "If manzuri isn't doing it for you," her hot air filling Ayeka's right ear, "I'm sure I can make you flip out."

It was as if someone flicked a Bic behind Ayeka's eyes and her tiara brightly burned again as her glowing left hand reached behind her.

Sasami just closed the top of the automatic rice cooker when a flash of light came through the door from the living room, Ryoko's hedonistic laughter echoed from the same room, and the little princess' nose crinkled as a wave of ozone invaded the kitchen. The child's face took on a perplexed look as she looked over at Ryo-ohki, saying, "Ryoko-neechan sure likes to play rough."

"Miya," Ryo-ohki nodded her furry head while she sat on the kitchen's island.

Just then Ryoko staggered into the kitchen from the living room, the uchu kaizoku's clothes and hair looked like someone had rubbed ten thousand cats against them but what surprised both Sasami and Ryo-ohki was the fiendish happiness on Ryoko's pointy face, "Imoto, for a flower risen in a greenhouse, your neesan sure can stroke my fur right."

Ryoko faded from Sasami's and Ryo-ohki's sight and without looking away from the spot where the uchu kaizoku had just vacated, Sasami said with wide-eyed bewilderment, "Why does it sound like oneesama just earned a star from Ryoko-neechan?"

"Miya!" total agreement was in Ryo-ohki's voice.

Tenchi stripped off his yukata in the changing room and dropped it into the hamper and laid a fresh change of clothes on the table before he entered the main room, where he sat on a stool. As he soaped up his hairless chest, his nose picked up the odor of the home's female guests that the moist air still held and it brought a pleasing smile along with a slightly frustrated sigh, 'It's like every one of my fantasies and nightmares rolled up into one.'

At this moment he reached blindly behind his back for the long-handled brush, thinking, 'Ryoko is so unpredictable, one moment she's Sasami-chan's Ryoko-neechan, helping us like she did when we found Ayeka-san asleep at the lake, while in another instinct she's Ryokoakurei, like when she called up the akuma and commanded it to attack Ayeka-san.' His groping right hand touched the tiled floor once, 'I know she accepted Ayeka-san's request to impress me and get a happy smile from Sasami-chan,' his hand touched the floor a couple of more times but found nothing, 'yet I can't help feeling good about it,' then his thoughts froze when he heard a very recognizable voice coming from behind him, "Tenchi, let me scrub your back for you."

Every proper fiber in Tenchi's body told him it wasn't right for Ryoko to be in here with him but even deeper in his soul there was something telling him it was all right. He must have broadcast his conflicting emotions because a light laugh came from behind him and Ryoko said, "Don't worry, anata. I'll just wash your back," then he felt her nose touch the back of his neck, "I won't even peak."

Tenchi fought off the urge to drop his hands into his lap and instead he concentrated to keep his left hand from shaking as he reached over his shoulder to hand Ryoko the bar of soap. He heard Ryoko's gleeful sound, felt her hand take the soap from his and listen as she soaped up a washcloth. The young man kept his eyes forward, tried very hard to remember what his grandfather told him about showing respect toward others but he still couldn't stop himself from jumping a little when the uchu kaizoku spread the cloth over his upper back and started to work the soap into his right shoulder with both of her hands as she hummed a tune.

Quickly Tenchi realized Ryoko wasn't just washing his back, she was alternating between her palms and fingertips, massaging the muscles first in one shoulder then the other before her thumbs rubbed up and down the base of his neck. The tension flowed out of his body, his mind relaxed and as the uchu kaizoku moved the cloth to between his shoulder blades, a distant part of Tenchi's memory was stirred by Ryoko's song. His mind's eye saw himself as a naked child of two, his little hands splashing water as he sat in a wooden tub just outside Ryoko's cave, his own voice trying to imitate his mother's singing a song Ryoko was humming.

"Are you enjoying my washing?" Ryoko's happy words brought Tenchi back to the present.

"Un," Tenchi hid the revelation behind a good-natured reply and busily scrubbed his chest as he thought, 'Now I'm certain Ryoko was the presence I felt at the cave and she would watch me, my otousama, my jiichan and . . . ' then his face became thoughtful, ' . . . my okasama.'

Ryoko worked up a sudsy lather on the small of Tenchi's back and the black-haired boy did the same for his stomach but his thoughts moved forward, 'When okasama died, I went to Ryoko's cave and cried for my loss,' the foggy confusion of the past months cleared a little, 'and she was there . . . " Tenchi's train-of-thought was derailed when Ryoko reached his butt.

Like a deer-in-the-headlights Tenchi waited for Ryoko to grope, pinch or finger attack his ass but it never came, instead she treated it just as she had the rest of his back and once it was covered in soap, he heard her pick up the bucket of hot water, felt the water pour over his body, followed by a second bucket of steaming liquid to make sure all the suds was gone, then he heard her say, "There, Tenchi, now you can go in and have a good soak!"

"Arigato," Tenchi turned his head enough to show Ryoko his smile but not enough for his brown eyes to see her. Maybe Ryoko heard something in his tone or saw something in his face, for the next thing the youth knew was two naked round mounds pressed into his shoulder blades and each of his hands were held by Ryoko's.

"Remember, anata," Ryoko's nose nuzzled the back of Tenchi's left ear before her pink tongue licked its inside, followed by her fanged mouth capturing his earlobe which she nosily sucked on, her lips slightly part to let the piece of flesh to slowly slip out with passion's words right behind it, "you have just to say the word, you have just to cover my buds and I will reward you with a red rose."

Tenchi watched Ryoko's hands fade from his sight, felt her body leave his yet it took a moment before he trusted his legs enough to get him into the furo, especially after his tongue tasted blood from his nose. Once enough minutes passed to allow Tenchi to be sure that Ryoko wasn't going to make a return engagement, he closed his eyes, allowed the water to leach out his body's arousal and he renewed his thinking, 'She wants me so much that she'll use her body and words to show her desire,' Tenchi added a new thought, 'but there's something else happening here, I saw desperation in Ryoko's eyes when she launched herself at me in the living room and it was there in her words just now,' then he remembered what Ayeka said, 'Does Ryoko fear her past will catch up with her before I'm willing to accept her love,' then he looked at the argument at a different angle, 'but if that is so then why did she stay away from here for most of yesterday?'

"Segare, may I come in?" Nobuyuki's voice came from the changing room.

"Hai, otousan," Tenchi replied.

Nobuyuki poked his head in and looked around before saying, "Ketsu, I was sure Ryoko-san would be in here with you."

"Otousan!" Tenchi put false annoyance in his voice to put his father on the wrong track.

"An otousama can only hope that his son will become a man," Nobuyuki shook his head while going over to a wooden stool, "and give him a mago," then he gave Tenchi a sly grin as he sat, "maybe six or seven."

Tenchi rolled his eyes to the heavens, saying, "Otousan, do you have to make it sound like SEX is the only way a man and a woman can have a close relationship."

"Segare, sex is an unavoidable part of any relationship between a man and a woman," a serious tone replaced Nobuyuki's earlier teasing sound, "even when they say they are just friends."

Tenchi heard the change in his father's voice, realized what might have caused it and so asked, "You and Scully-san?"  

Tenchi waited as his father dumped a bucket of water over his own head, saw the wistful look on the older man's face while he answered, "I was so in love with your okasan that I didn't see how much suffering Ninjin-chan was going through because she loved me."

"You couldn't have known, otousan," sympathy in Tenchi's voice and face.

"Your okasan saw it," Nobuyuki's eyes full of the past, "and I wonder if she would've objected if I had discovered it."

Now finding himself in unknown territory, Tenchi asked, "What was okasan like before I was born?"

"Achika was the strongest willed person that I ever knew," Nobuyuki's love for his departed wife in his voice, "and very practical and honest about everything."

Implications of his father's words didn't escape Tenchi's notice and he asked with wonder, "Okasan was willing to accept Scully-san's ai for you."

"Achika cared about Ninjin-chan na," Nobuyuki pointed out then added, "and I found out yesterday that she even tied all three of our spirits together."

"Nani!" Tenchi's mouth hanged open as his father stepped into the furo.

It was at this point that Nobuyuki told Tenchi what happened to him and Scully with Tenchi's eyes getting bigger and bigger, finally the teenager said, "So okasan wanted you and Scully-san together," then a tearful tone entered his voice, "even after she was gone."

"Achika never was one to allow timid thinking," then a sly smile touched Nobuyuki's lips, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind that you brought home four garufurendo."

"You're impossible!" Tenchi stood straight up, marched out of the furo and slam the door behind him.

"I wonder if he realizes that he is still naked," then Nobuyuki heard a boyish squeal, several feminine shrieks and a girl complaining, "Oneesama, I wish you wouldn't keep covering my eyes."

"I guess not," Nobuyuki leaned his head back on the side of the furo.

********

Tsunami Abbey, Kanemitsu

Washu sat in a pitch-black closet, her head pressed against one of its corner and her small hands unable to stop the tears from leaking through her fingers because it felt like a thousand splinters were in her heart. She was barely aware the closet door opened, closed and the rustle of cloth as someone knelt next to her, then a whispered voice asked, "Doka gai ka?"

The redheaded child continued to cry, unable to break the chain of pain, so the voice asked, "I can't do anything unless you tell me."

The compassion in the voice caused Washu to talk, "They  . . . they called me . . . names."

"The other shitei," through the clouds of pain did Washu note the motherly quality of the voice.

"Hai!" Washu replied as her four-year-old voice filled of heartbreaking confusion, "even Iekata . . . chan called me . . . a . . . a GEEK!"

"Naze wa?" two soft hands touched Washu's quaking shoulders.

"They said . . . to me . . . I made them . . . look baka . . . to

Hitomi-sensei," Washu sucked in a ragged breath, "and the other sensei."

"They're just envious," the hands gave a comforting squeeze, "they wish their genius was as great as yours."

"A . . . A . . . Am I so special?" Washu spun around and buried her tiny body in the form that darkness kept her from identifying.

"Hai, Washu-chan," the hands carefully picked Washu up and the larger body started to rock back-and-forth.

"Naze wa yo?" Washu's tone showed she wanted her heart put back together again.

"Would you truly like to know?" a loving tone in the simple question.

"Un," Washu's sobs slowed as her spirit sought understanding.

"When the Kami created people," a storyteller's quality to the voice, "she used the flotsam and jetsam left over from creating the universe," then dread entered her voice, "but she ran out of the stuff and she still had several persons she wanted to make," the voice's dread was replaced with determination, "so she searched every corner of her creation and at the end of her journey, when her hope was about to leave her, she found within a nebula a planet with fields of growing crystals," her voice took on a sad tone, "but the Kami found them so beautiful, so perfect, that she didn't have the heart to pick them," now awe entered the voice, "but then a cosmic wind blew between the glassy flowers and the Kami heard them singing to her, their song telling her to take them, to give them eyes to marvel at her creation and limbs so they could walk with her," now warmth entered her voice, "so the Kami made each crystal a person and scattered them amongst her other people, so their song would lift spirits and their brightness would bring enlightenment to others."

During the story Washu's sobs melted into a happy smile as she drew sustenance from the rocking motion and the honeyed smell of the body holding her. At the end of the story the child asked, "Am I a crystal?"

"Washu-chan, reach into your pocket," a knowing tone to the voice.

It was at this moment Washu felt warmth coming from the pocket where she kept the three crystals, Washu had always treated them as good luck charms since they seemed not to do anything unique, but now she quickly fished them out and her eyes went wide at the bluish-white light filtering through her barely closed right hand.

"Open your hand," the voice told her.

With a child's trust Washu opened her hand and her eyes reached owl size at how the glowing crystals floated over her palm.

"See how they greet you," the voice full of love, "they want you to know that you are their kin."

Washu looked up at the person cradling her, the crystals' soft light revealed a body covered with black cloth and a hood pull over the head so nothing of the face could be seen except for a pair of gray eyes that Washu found both happy and sad.

"Ima, Washu-chan," the head bent down and lips kissed first one eye, "don't let them drag you down to their level," and then the other eye, "remember that you are very special," and the arms hugged Washu, "especially to me."

The sight of the unshed tears in the other's eyes tugged at something in the back of Washu's mind, she opened her mouth but she couldn't find the words to match what she was feeling, then the arms placed her on her feet and heartbeat later the dark figure was gone and Washu found herself standing outside the closet.

Suddenly Washu's consciousness awoke from her remembrance and found she had returned to the crystal prison where her body resided, 'I almost forgot about . . . ' then her mind became puzzled, 'but why did I dream . . . ' instantly her train of thought changed, 'I . . . I ran from Seto . . . ' now new insight dawned upon her, 'I fled from my pain . . . I hid in the closet again,' then shock pushed her to a new thought, 'it was the abbey rector who carried me out of the closet the first time, she found me asleep in there.' 

Slowly her mind went over the old memory. The mysterious woman did come to her, had healed her young heart with the story and she told me to be brave before she disappeared but only the ending was different. 'Was it she who made me want to return,' Washu carefully questioned, 'and because my understanding of the universe was better than it was before,' her mind locked upon the thought, 'I was able to leave the closet on my own instead of being carried out,' a frown found a home in her thinking, 'or was this second time my own subconscious wearing her garb, taking me out of my closet of self pity?' Washu gave a mental sigh, 'maybe I'm trying to tell myself not to give up.'

Not finding a final answer to her question, Washu combed the old memory for any other information that her younger self missed, the child-woman found her clue although she almost missed it because it was so open. It was with the honeyed odor the little scientist could smell and the warm breath that the redhead could feel, her adult senses found the mysterious lady surrounded by an energy field.

'It . . . It's familiar,' her mind confused by what her spirit felt, 'but why?' Washu sighed once more, knowing that as long as she couldn't gain access to her lab she wouldn't be able to answer both of her questions. Washu turned away from this discussion without an ending and opened her mind so she could listen and watch.

********

Tokyo Rail Station

Tachibana Reiko had just pulled up the company car to the Rail Station when the cell phones of her passengers went off at the same time.

"Mulder here," answered the brown-haired agent.

"Moshi-moshi," said Scully at the same time.

"Where are you two?" asked Sato Hitoshi, their superior at NZK.

"We just pulled up to the Tokyo Rail Station," Mulder replied, "We're on our way to investigate another homicide in Kurashiki."

"One which could be connected to the homicide we are currently investigating," added Scully.

"Do you think you can handle the case alone, Mulder?" Hitoshi's heavily accented English made it hard to understand him.

"Alone, sir?" Mulder was caught off guard.

"We need Scully-san's expertise to take over a medical emergency in the town of Funao," there was a desperate quality to Hitoshi voice, "and our best forensic personnel are already involved in ongoing investigations."

Mulder glanced over at Scully, who silently mouthed the words, "They want to delay the media as long as possible."

It was at this point that Mulder looked at Reiko, who was using the rearview mirror to watch what was going on in the backseat, and he grinned before saying, "I think I can scrounge up someone to help me with this case," at the same time Mulder mouthed silently to Scully, "Why us?"

"Scully, we need you take over this emergency," desperate determination in Hitoshi's voice, "Do you agree with Mulder's assessment of your current case?"

"I believe Mulder's experience will be enough for this case," Scully caught the grin on her partner's face and followed his line-of-sight to the wide-eyed, pale faced Reiko, "and should it become necessary, he knows when to call in experts," then she silently mouthed to Mulder, "We're new, we're tiny and the media hasn't discovered us yet."

"Yes, I believe you are correct about your partner's skills," Hitoshi's voice full of relief, "I even noted you have already recruited your first agent," a pause came before the older man concluded, "a Hakubi Ryoko."

Scully frowned and opened her mouth but Mulder beat her to the punch, "Ryoko Hakubi isn't a permanent member of our department but I have high hopes of convincing her to stay on."

"Do convince her," Hitoshi asserted, "these 'incidents' seem to be multiplying and her record suggested she would make an excellent member of your staff."

Scully's emerald eyes glared at Mulder, who shrugged his shoulders while saying into the cell phone, "I'm sure she would be."

"Anyway, Tachibana-san will drive you to the Nihon Metropolitan Police

Headquarters," Hitoshi went back to the reason he called them, "they have a helicopter wanting to take you both to Haneda Airport, where a chartered jet will transport you to Okayama," the man paused before adding, "from there an Uryle Koji will take Scully-san to Funao."

"We're on our way," Mulder affirmed before shutting off his cell phone.

"Sayonara," Scully spoke into her cell phone, shut it off and looked up a Reiko, saying, "Tachibana-san, take us to the Nihon Metropolitan Police Headquarters."

"Hai," color had returned to Reiko's face and she obeyed the order.

Then Scully turned her attention to Mulder but the man gave her a warning look while giving a nod toward Reiko, this motion made Scully change the nature of her question, "Do you think you can get Miss Hakubi on such short notice?" her tone showed she didn't like the idea of Ryoko being a legitimate agent.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," Mulder replied while he typed in the phone number to the Masaki home.

********

Masaki Residence

"Ima, Sasami, I want you to remember not to let Ryoko-san get you into any mischief," Ayeka's stern words matched her body language. The little princess was standing halfway between the house and the van, with her sister in front of her while Tenchi, Mihoshi and Seto stood beside the vehicle, Ryoko and Katsuhito were just outside the home's front door.

"You know this is the first time I've ever heard the kodomo told to keep under surveillance the komori (babysitter)," Mihoshi's comment plus Sasami's embarrassed look brought sympatric smiles from Seto and Katsuhito, a surprised look from Tenchi and narrowed eyes from Ryoko.

"Shit, she doesn't need to make it sound like I'm going to turn Sasami into a two-dollar whore," Ryoko spoke softly in English to the Shinto priest next to her.

"It's just Ayeka's way of expressing her anxiety at leaving Sasami behind," Katsuhito explained in English.

Although Ayeka didn't recognize the words, she did note Ryoko's hostile glare and she returned the stare in spades before she allowed her love for her sister to enter her voice, "I'll only be gone for five days, so don't worry about me, ii ne?"

"Ii ne," Sasami's voice contained a mix of love for her sister and fear for her sister's safety.

"And make sure Ryoko-san does her chores instead of letting you do them for her," a new level of frowning appeared on Ryoko's face at Ayeka's reminder but then she remembered what she felt when Sasami had fainted, Ayeka too noticed the softening in Ryoko's expression. Then Ayeka bent her head down and kissed Sasami on the cheek, "Remember what I promised you, Sasami," she whispered in the child's right ear, "and nothing will stop me from keeping it."

The emotions of that promise flooded into the two females and they hugged each other just as they did that day. Katsuhito saw Ryoko's stance melt under this fiery display of sisterly love while it brought smiles to the others. Just then Nobuyuki walked through the opened front door and moved pass Ryoko and Katsuhito while happy saying, "I found IT!"

The others had puzzled looks on their faces but when Nobuyuki reached Ayeka, he stopped and said, "When I saw you had selected this outfit from my okusan's clothes," he held up a white round, brimless hat, "I thought you might like to wear the hat she wore with it."

Ayeka saw the earnestness of Tenchi's father so she accepted the hat, saying, "Domo arigato, Nobuyuki-san," then she gave him a puzzled look.

Chagrin found a home on Nobuyuki's face as he said, "You wear it like this," he took the hat from the princess' hands and placed it on her head so the right side would drape over her ear.

Ayeka looked at the others and asked, "How do I look?"

"Suge gu! Cool! Subarashii!" were the others' responses and Seto added to it by giving her mirror to Ayeka so she could see for herself. What the princess found in her reflection was that the hat gave her a mysterious look and it had a beneficial effect of covering her tiara. As she turned to give the mirror back to her grandmother, the purple-haired lady saw Ryoko's reflection in the device and it brought a frown to her lips for it showed tenderness in those catlike eyes, but she wasn't the only one to see it, the ever shifting red eyes of Katsuhito also caught Ryoko's display and he softly whispered to the cyan-haired woman, "I would think you'd love to have the oujosama out of your hair and away from my mago."

Ryoko's head jerked around and a volcanic menace was in her face and low voice, "Guji, a nezumi shouldn't thrust its neck into a neko's jaws."

"I'll have to write that one done," Katsuhito chuckled but there was cool thinking in his mind, 'Ryoko has mixed feelings about Ayeka,' then a new idea formed in her mind, 'maybe she is glad that Ayeka won't be here to witness her shame if Kagato takes control of her in the next five days.'

Goodbyes were exchanged and Tenchi, Mihoshi, Ayeka and Seto left with

Nobuyuki, then Katsuhito said, "I've some business to handle for Miho-san besides my duties at the shine."

"You'll be here for ranchi ne?" a heaping cup of hope in Sasami's question.

"Of course, Akaruime," a wide smile upon Katsuhito's leathery face, "more than the others I'm addicted to your cooking."

Sasami grinned widely at the priest's compliment and waved bye-bye to the departing man while Ryoko gave a respectful bow but before either one could suggest something to do, the telephone in the hallway started to ring.

"Race you!" a playful tone in Ryoko's challenge.

Sasami's spirit filled her pink quartz eyes and she dashed through the opened front door, kicked her shoes off and sprinted toward the little table where the telephone was kept, then she realized her ears hadn't heard Ryoko running behind her. This was confirmed for the little one when Ryoko appeared in front of her and picked up the receiver.

Sasami stopped cold, saying in disapproving tone, "Your belly's black,

Ryoko-neechan."

"I gave you a big lead wa?" Ryoko good-naturedly countered as she brought the receiver to her lips

"Honto ne," Sasami's pout turned to nodding acceptance, then her curiosity came into play, "Who's on the denwa (telephone)?"

"Oi!" Ryoko was confused as to how to answer the call until she remembered her last phone call, then she said, "Moshi-moshi."

"Ryoko, this is Mulder," a reply from the device.

"Hey, Foxy, what's up!" Ryoko's English words showed she remembered last night's merriment, then she heard Sasami make a noise and she told the child in Juraigo, "its Kitsune-san."

Ryoko couldn't stop from belly laughing when she saw Sasami's face lit up with happiness while a groan came out of the receiver, then Mulder said, "Are you busy?"

It was at this point Ryoko heard Mulder's serious tone, so she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Scully is being called in to handle a medical emergency," Mulder carefully explained, "so I need someone to help me with our current case."

"The fire bug," Ryoko's words more a statement than a question.

"Correct," hope was plain in Mulder's one word acknowledgement.

A sly look appeared on Ryoko's face as she asked, "I'll bet Scully isn't happy about me joining you again?"

"Her look could melt ice at the North Pole," amusement in Mulder's voice then he queried, "So you're going to come."

Ryoko opened her mouth but shut it with a click and her eyes filled with uncertainty as she looked at Sasami and remembered her obligation to protect the child. Seeing the indecision in Ryoko's amber eyes Sasami asked, "Doka gai ka?" the touch of fear in her first words became full bloom fright, "Is something wrong with Kitsune-san, Ninjin-chan wa yo!"

"Iie, Iie, Sasami-chan," Ryoko banished away her own inner conflict and cheerfully told the frightened girl, "Nothing is wrong with either one of them."

Sasami's shoulders sagged with relief but her own wonder came back, "Then what rea . . . " then a hurt look came to her face as she realized the possible source of Ryoko's reaction, "Kitsune-san wants you to help him and you're stuck with me," her last words filled with self-contempt.

At the speed-of-light Ryoko was crouched down in front of Sasami, her face a few inches from the child's and strong love in her words, "I don't EVERY want to hear you talk about yourself like that again," Ryoko's eyes burned brightly, "you have DONE so much for ALL of us!"

"I just wish people wouldn't treat me like a kodomo all the time," Sasami's words full of frustration and tears in her eyes, "I'm older than I look."

Ryoko was all mixed up inside as to how to respond to Sasami's words, then she remembered something Tenchi's mother told the boy a long time ago, when Achika caught him running with his grandfather's wakizashi. Without hesitation she rubbed the tears from the child's eyes with her left thumb while saying, "Don't be mad at us, Sasami-chan," her words full of care, "it's just our world would fall to pieces if something bad happened to you."

All negativity drained from Sasami's face to be replaced by her heart's fire, "Wakatta (I understand)! I just don't want people to treat me like I'm some fragile thing."

"I won't, Sasami-chan," Ryoko fiercely countered.

"Honto ne?" Sasami asked.

"I swear upon my love for Tenchi," Ryoko thundered with conviction.

Sasami looked at Ryoko for a long moment before she nodded in acceptance of Ryoko's oath, then confusion returned to her as she asked, "But how will you help Kitsune-san, Ninjin-chan?"

Ryoko's face was a study of concentration when a light went off behind her eyes, then she reached out with a thought, 'Ryo-ohki, come here.'

Sasami felt a ripple of power come from Ryoko and before she could ask Ryoko about it, in bounded the gray-haired cabbit, "Miya?" a questioning tone in the cabbit's voice.

Ryoko picked up Ryo-ohki while saying into the telephone receiver in 

English, "Mulder, you're still there?"

"I heard part of your conversation with Sasami," disappointment in Mulder's reply, "since you're already . . . "

"Where do you want to meet?" Ryoko quickly interrupted, she knew what Sasami's reaction would be if she allowed Mulder to finish his words.

"Are you sure?" Ryoko could hear Mulder's own concern for Sasami's safety.

"I've got a plan," Ryoko's words full of confidence.

"Well," a spit second of indecision before Mulder continued, "Okay, I'll meet you at the Kurashiki Rail Station at about nine p.m."

"Be there or be square," Ryoko put a jolly note to her acknowledgement.

"Mulder out," the connection was closed.

"You're going?" Sasami had recognized the last bit of American slang Ryoko used.

"As I told Mulder-san," Ryoko grinned at Sasami, "I've got a plain," in a wink of an eye, the littlest princess found two Ryokos kneeling in front of her.

"Ikasu!" Sasami's eyes overflowed with excitement, "I didn't know you could do that!"

"Let it be our little secret ne?" Ryoko's voice came in stereo as Ryoko 1 put the telephone receiver on its hook while Ryoko 2 brought Ryo-ohki up to eye level, then the Gem on the Ryoko 1's left-wrist started to glow as both reached out to the cabbit's mind, 'Ryo-chan, I need your aid.'

'Hai, oneechan?' Ryo-ohki couldn't stop her own concern from putting an edge to her question as she felt Ryoko's conflicting affection for Sasami and Mulder.

'Remember that time when you merged my split memories together,' reminded Ryoko 1.

A look of fear appeared on Ryo-ohki's face as well as her reply, 'Head hurt long time.'

'I know,' Ryoko 2 sent Ryo-ohki the memory of the days it took for her to take care of the sick cabbit, then added, 'but I need to help Mulder-san and take care of Sasami-chan.'

'I can take care of Sasami-chan,' a look of pride in Ryo-ohki's eyes.

Ryoko 2 rubbed Ryo-ohki against her right cheek while thinking, 'I would trust all my treasures with you, Ryo-chan,' then Ryoko 1 thought with a frown, 'but I promised the oujosama to be a komori for Sasami-chan ne.'

Ryo-ohki remembered the promise Ryoko made, nodded her furry head but added with a concern edge to her soundless words, 'I fear for you, oneechan.'

'That is why I want you to sit on top of my head and link our minds together with your Gem,' Ryoko 2 silently told the furry animal.

It took only a moment for Ryo-ohki to realize what Ryoko was asking was for her to coordinate information between Ryoko's two separate minds, just as she does when in her battleship form. This revelation first made the cabbit's eyes flash with pride at her companion's genius but then a new idea struck a cord in her mind and she said telepathically, 'Ninjin.'

'Nani?' the two Ryokos' stereo response showed they didn't expect this reply from the cabbit.

'Head will hurt,' mock pain in Ryo-ohki's words, 'Ninjin.'

An annoyed look appeared on both cyan-haired women's faces and Ryoko 2 fired off, 'Oi tanomu wa! Omae atai no fushiyavyri ja ne (C'mon, girl, you're my joint breaker, girl!)!'

'Ninjin,' Ryo-ohki patted her tummy to add emphasis to her request.

Ryoko 2 held up two fingers, the response this action got was another,

'NINJIN,' an insulted look on the animal's face.

"Ryoko-neechan, what's going on?" Sasami could plainly see the two Ryokos were royally pissed by something Ryo-ohki was doing.

Ryoko 2 held up four fingers as Ryoko 1 said, "The little fur ball is trying to blackmail me!"

"Oi!" Sasami let out while Ryo-ohki shook her head, both amber-eyed women frowned and Ryoko 2 held up five fingers while Ryoko 1 held up ten fingers. The cabbit made a face like she was studying the proposition but her consideration was interrupted by Sasami's saying, "Ryo-chan." The fuzzy creature looked around and found the child holding up her little fingers. "MIYA!" the three females were sure the cabbit thought she had hit the jackpot.

Sasami smiled at Ryo-ohki's victory but then a baffled look appeared on her face before she said, "Oneechan, why did you have to bribe Ryo-chan?"

"I need Ryo-chan to keep my memory as one," Ryoko 1 explained while Ryoko 2 placed Ryo-ohki upon her head, "while I have two bodies, two minds."

"Iie, Ryoko-neechan," frustrated tone in Sasami's correction, "I made your eyes dizzy."

"Ara?" Ryoko 2 plucked Ryoko 1 spare Gem from her left ear but both paused with surprised looks at Sasami's statement.

"What I meant was," Sasami's pink quartz eyes full of curiosity, "why didn't you just order Ryo-ohki to obey you?"

A sweet smile appeared on both Ryokos faces, matched by the one on Ryo-ohki's face, as all three closed their eyes. Ryoko 2 let go of the spare Gem as Ryoko 1 clapped her hands three times and then held her right wrist over the spare Gem while Ryoko 2 held her right wrist underneath it. Then Ryoko's Gem bluish white glow became visible and was matched by the spare Gem and Ryo-ohki's Gem, then little crackling lightning bolts appeared between the two Ryokos extended wrists. Slowly the spare Gem descended to nestle into Ryoko 2's right-wrist, then both women replied, "Ryo-chan is my partner, my friend and my doshi (kindred spirit)," Ryo-ohki's cheeks burned with modesty, "I wouldn't force her to do anything."

"Miya," an affectionate tone in Ryo-ohki's one word.

A few minutes passed before all three Gems stopped glowing and both Ryokos said as they stood up, "There all done!"

Sasami hugged Ryoko 1 while saying, "You better be careful not to run into Ayeka-oneechan or any of the others."

"I'll be careful, imoto," Ryoko 1 returned the hug then her tone changed from care to sly, "just don't run my futago (twin) out of breath."

"Tame!" Ryoko 2 playfully shoved Ryoko 1, "I do happen to have a shadow!"

Sasami giggled at the double mischief she saw before her, then she let go of her wild friend, who floated up to the hallway ceiling where she waved to those below before she disappeared, her disembodied words reaching them, "Sayonara."

Sasami called out loudly with both arms waving, "Bai-bai!" It quickly dawned on Sasami what she just did and dropped her head down at what her thoughtlessness had done but her shame flew from her spirit when Ryoko grabbed and tossed the child spinning up in the air, teleported so the little one fell only inches before landing on Ryoko's stomach, "I'll show you I'm just as much Ryoko as she is," mock anger in her words as she used both hands to expertly tickle Sasami's ribs.

"Gomen . . . gomen . . . gomen," Sasami sputtered her words out in a happy pleading tone between uncontrollable laughter.

"Oke," Ryoko grinned up at the shaking child and stopped her tickling.

"Ima my turn!" Sasami said and she grabbed onto both of Ryoko knees and squeezed in the right places, suddenly the floating female was doing a great impersonation of a bucking bull as howling laughter came from her wide lips.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki hanged onto her cyan-haired perch, her thoughts full of unburdened merriment.

********

Kurashiki Rail Station

"Yare-Yare, what's taking the train so long," groused Nobuyuki as he stood next to Tenchi along with Seto, Mihoshi and Ayeka. Tenchi was in his school uniform while Seto was in a two-piece woman's business suit and Mihoshi wore a long-sleeved pea green shirt and forest green pants, all five wore heavy coats due to the chill in the morning air.

"Must've been a delay up the line," guessed Tenchi then added as looked at the other waiting passengers, "It looks like others are caught in the same predicament."

"Ee, the crowd does look more heavy than usual," agreed Nobuyuki, "At least we decided for the seven-thirty train to Okayama or Tenchi would be holding buckets in the school hall."

"Honto na," Tenchi added a foreboding look to his comment, showing how much he hated being late for class, then he noticed how Ayeka had shrunk into the little space between her friends, "Genki, Ayeka-san?"

"I didn't realize . . ." Ayeka's ruby eyes full of panic, "the people . . ." the princess jumped as a hand touched her right shoulder and twisting around she found her grandmother behind her with eyes full of understanding.

"I have faith in you, Oujo-chan," hard love in Seto's voice, "I know you can overcome the obstacles in your journey."

"You can do it, Ayeka-san," Nobuyuki good-naturally seconded.

Ayeka's fear disappeared into determination and her back went straight at the confidence she gained from her family, as she turned to face the others, her ruby eyes saw the concern look on Tenchi's face, so she said, "Don't hurt your chest, Tenchi-sama, I let my fear imprison my ki but only for a moment."

"You're afraid of crowds?" Tenchi carefully asked, "but I thought living in a palace with nobles and hordes of servants would make you jaded to such a thing."

"The numerous personnel of Jurai court are organized by rituals so that even a dance isn't crowded," Seto's authoritative voice explained before she changed to a caring tone, "but these restraints left Oujo-chan very vulnerable."

"Ee," Ayeka's reply contained a drop of shame at her weakness, "I was caught in a riot when I was fifteen." 

"A riot created by the decision of the Oken Iinkai Jurai," sadness in Seto's explanation, "when the people discovered that a stature of limitations was placed on Ryoko-san's attack."

Ayeka twisted around, her eyes full of shock at this new piece of information, then her raging emotions cooled at the sorrow she found on her grandmother's face but it didn't stop her from asking, "In my heart, in my soul, I have been pained by knowing that my own kazoku allowed those murdered by that oni onna not to be avenged," her pain filled the last words, "Naze, naze was it done wa yo?"

It was this point that Tenchi noticed that Mihoshi hadn't said anything during this exchange, so he looked at the blond and found her head slowly turning as her sapphire's eyes stared out. Tenchi thought himself a blockhead for not remembering that Mihoshi was a Galaxy Police officer, a professional trained to protect and to serve.

"This is the wrong time and place for me to tell you, Oujo-chan," real regret in Seto's answer, "you will have to be satisfied with the knowledge that those lost on that day didn't die in vain," then she gave her granddaughter a strong look, "Remember, Ryoko-san was a weapon used by another."

Ayeka's heart ached but she knew her grandmother was correct, especially when she too noticed Mihoshi's roving eyes. Tenchi was correct about his observation for Mihoshi was scanning the crowd in the rail station, checking on any possible threat to the safety of the Masaki family. What she found were looks of frustration mixed with people reading, talking on their cell phones or talking to their marooned friends. The only person she found that awoke her cop instincts was a golden girl with shoulder length fiery hair and eyes shielded by sunglasses, whose slim frame was covered by a heavy white coat. Each time she looked at the youth the police officer found her staring at the same thing, a poster of the new magical girl TV show, Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. This raised her cop suspicions because most people shift their field-of-vision to react to surrounding stimuli, she wasn't. Another clue for the upholder of the law was how the people around the strange teenager were either openly or covertly gawking at her, if she was a regular her looks would be accepted as a daily occurrence. Of course the lady cop did note how some people were looking at her.

"Ten-san?" a questioning tone in Mihoshi voice as she looked at the young man in his school uniform.

"Hai, Miho-san," Tenchi causally replied.

"Dewa . . . eh . . . do I look weird?" suddenly Mihoshi found her feet interesting to look at.

Tenchi looked surprised by Mihoshi's question until his gaze discovered some of the people looking at his lady friends. After a look that suggested he was getting annoyed at his own slowness, the brown-eyed teenager put smiles in his answer, "Iie, you aren't weird looking, Miho-san."

"It's just the people of my generation haven't accepted the youngsters' love for dyed hair and tanned skin," Nobuyuki pitched in, "In fact many places upon this earth, you would find an endless number of young men waiting for your permission to pluck your kiiga (instrument)."

A mystified look appeared on Ayeka's face, Tenchi's head dropped in frustrated embarrassment and a knowing smile found a home on Seto's lips but Mihoshi's reaction was to touch her brightly blushed cheeks with her hands, her words full of modesty, "I'm not that beautiful."

"If you don't believe me," a sly look on Nobuyuki's face, "why don't you ask Tenchi?"

Tenchi shot a gee-thanks-dad glance at his father before he found himself looking into two blue pools of hope under flaxen hair. It was his anger at his earlier slowness and the fragility of emotions he saw in Mihoshi's face that pulled the words from his lips, "A man would count himself fortunate to have you as his lucky star."

"THANKS!" Mihoshi shouted in English as she threw her arms around Tenchi's neck and applied a hug that would make a bear cry mommy. This action not only caused onlookers to openly frown at such a public display of emotion, it produced green jealousy in Ayeka's eyes, a grin Seto hid behind her left hand and a Cheshire Cat's grin on Nobuyuki's tanned face. Then just as suddenly Mihoshi released the blue-faced youth, looked over the teenager's short black hair before giving a gasp and then started to urgently look around while saying, "Oya maa! I've lost her."

"Donata, Himawari?" alertness on Seto's face as her right hand reached into her coat pocket.

"There was a . . ." Mihoshi paused as her ears twitch then she smiled

good-naturedly at the purple-haired princess as she continued, "Ayeka-san, your train has just arrived."

"I didn't hear . . ." Nobuyuki begun to say as he helped Tenchi to stand while his pale-faced son tried sucked in air into his empty lungs, then a distant sound of a train whistle reached them which brought an impressed tone to Nobuyuki's words, "you have very good ears, Mihoshi-san."

"Arigato, Nobuyuki-san," Seto was the only one to pick up on the undertone of melancholy in Mihoshi's acknowledgement and she knew why but before she could say anything about it, the elder princess saw Ayeka grab up her overnight bag, step up to the still dazed Tenchi and plant a quick kiss upon his left cheek before she hurried to the train platform.

A drop-jaw look was on Tenchi's face as his left hand touched the place where a princess' lips had touched, saying faintly, "She . . . kissed . . . me . . ."

"Uaa! Ten-san!" Mihoshi's blue eyes full of limitless wonder, "Ayeka-san must daisuki you a lot."

"Ano . . ." it took a moment for the blond bombshell's words to sink in before Tenchi's eyes bugged out, "Kya iie zo! How could that be, she's only known me for the last three weeks!" then his voice calmed down, "Besides, she has an inazuke."

"Ima, ima, segare," Nobuyuki wrapped his right arm around his son's shoulders and turned him toward the station's exit, "we can't be certain if that is still true."

"But isn't the goal of Ayeka-san's journey to Tokyo," confusion and certainty were together in Tenchi's question as he walked with his father while Mihoshi and Seto followed behind them, "to find Yosho-san?"

"Hai," Nobuyuki readily agreed, "but you could look upon it as a quest to find the truth."

"Otousan, what do you mean?" Tenchi was trying really hard to understand what his father meant.

"What Nobuyuki-san is trying to say is actually very simple," Seto's crystal clear voice entered their conversation.

"Nani?" once more Tenchi felt like a blockhead.

"Why didn't Yosho-sama appear when you revived Ryoko-san," Mihoshi's eyes full of blue enlightenment as she held up one ebony finger, "why didn't Yosho-sama appear when Funaho-Ki sent its message," she held up a second finger, "and why didn't Yosho-sama appear when Ayeka-san access his bondmate's memory?" she held up a third finger.

Mihoshi's explanation opened Tenchi's eyes and he said, "You mean Ayeka-san is going to Tokyo to discover if she is still Yosho-san's inazuke?"

"If my mego is still alive," Seto calmly said, then she caught a glimpse of Mihoshi's half-smile that she could only see, thinking, 'Himawari knows I just used two tongues.'

"I pray that he is still alive," Tenchi sighed as the party came out of the station, "I don't know what I'll do if Ryoko ever saw Ayeka-san kiss me like she just did," then he quickly added when he saw the hurt look on Mihoshi's face, "or the way Miho-san hugged me," Tenchi was rewarded by the blonde with a blushing shy look. Tenchi looked ahead and lowered his voice so only his father could hear him, "First Ryoko, then Ayeka-san and now Miho-san, why are these shojo so taken with me?"

"They must be attracted by the strong silent type," Nobuyuki's sly tone in his whispered words matched his big grin, "of course after what happened this morning, I'm sure they know your kare no asoke can do an itaname (board licking)."

"Itaname?" an innocent questioning tone in Mihoshi's voice, Tenchi just hung his head and groaned. 

Meanwhile on the train to Okayama Ayeka's own emotions warred within her soul, 'it was improper of me to kiss Tenchi-sama,' her right hand held onto a metal pole with a death's grip, 'but after what that oni onna did this morning and what Mihoshi did just now, I had to do something,' her cheeks start to burn with arousal, 'to . . . to show my . . .' her ruby eyes full of conflict, 'my feelings for him . . .' suddenly her thoughts were interrupted as a hand cupped and caressed her left ass cheek.

Ayeka's emotional conflict disappeared under a wave of fury that her willpower was barely able to check, her mind knowing her unleashed rage would cause as much harm to the innocent passengers as to the owner of the offensive appendage, instead she bit down hard on her lower lip and summoned her family technique to reduce her fire enough, then she gave voice to her outrage as she looked over her left shoulder, "Will YOU . . ."

"SAWARI-MA!" burst out from an emerging figure on Ayeka's right, then a sound of cracking bones, a shout of pain and the disappearance of the pressure on her butt, Ayeka turned around where her sight showed a young woman driving the spike heel of her right shoe into a middle-aged man's foot.

"You broke my FOOT!" the man in the blue business suit hobbled away to get some distance from the golden girl.

"Your foot isn't broken," the redhead snarled back, "All I did was to pour water on your HENTAI nature."

Realizing that everyone on the train had heard them, the man shut his mouth and disappeared behind the other passengers, a side effect of the confrontation was Ayeka now stood in a small haven of empty space.

"Sumimasen for being late, Masaki Ayeka," the teenager in the white overcoat bowed to the surprised princess before she stepped up and presented an ID card with her right hand to the purple-haired lady while holding a suitcase similar to Ayeka's, "I would've been here sooner but I wasn't prepared for this compartment to be such a sardine can."

Ayeka took the plastic card while the young one removed her sunglasses and compared the photo with the person before her, both were the same: a gold skinned girl with white eyes and fiery hair, then she said, "So you are Rogers Ohiten of the Nikko Security Agency?"

"Hai," a warm look appeared on Ohiten's face, "your ojisan, Masaki Katsuhito, asked my company to assign someone to act as your guide and bodyguard during your stay in Tokyo."

At first the teenager's appearance summoned a suspicious notion to Ayeka, 'she doesn't look like a native of . . .' then she remembered what Nobuyuki and Tenchi told Mihoshi, 'she must be from some other part of this world.' The tension in the princess' shoulder's drained away and she calmly asked, "Did your employers say why I'm going to Tokyo?"

"Iie," confidence in Ohiten's gaze, "and it's not necessary for me to know ne?"

"Ara?" Ayeka was amazed by the youth's blind loyalty, she was used to people giving obedience to her because of Jurai and her title, not to her as a person.

"Ee," Ohiten's teeth flashed in an open smile as placed her suitcase on the floor, "my job is to aid and to protect you."

Ayeka looked Ohiten up and down before giving a critical statement, "You look pretty young for such a responsibility."

"Daddy thought I was the best qualified for the job," Ayeka saw a glint of defiance in Ohiten's eyes and recognized it for what is was, an offspring's loving trust in their parents' judgment.

Ayeka's ruby orbs momentarily glanced in the direction the pervert had

retreated then she said with a diplomatic tone, "Since you have proven some ability in protecting my welfare, I shall accept your otousama's assessment."

"Domo arigato!" Ohiten's clapped her hands together while her face filled with brightness.

"But only on a probationary basis," Ayeka soberly added but her next words had a teasing quality, "I wouldn't want your otousama to lose the jewel in his palm."

"Don't worry, Masaki-sama," merriment in Ohiten's face, "with me along your hands are full of flowers."

In a dark corner of Ayeka's mind, her fears of not finding Yosho lessen, her hope became stronger because of the warmth she felt coming from the young woman next to her. It was now she lifted her eyes to check the people around them and her sight revealed another wondrous sight, surrounding her and Ohiten were now women passengers of various ages and dress, each gave Ayeka and her new companion a look of respect or pride. Further back were driven the princess' fears of loss and despair, her heart strengthened by a simple fact, no matter the outer appearance of clothes or race, she was connected to the women of this world by bonds of sisterhood.

********

Tsurugata-yama keon, Kurashiki

"Are you sure both of you wouldn't like to see where I work?" Nobuyuki had already delivered Tenchi to his school and now he was doing the same thing by dropping off Mihoshi and Seto at the Tsurugata Mountain Park, "most of the stores and shops won't be open until ten o'clock," he gave a quick glance at his watch, "about one and half hours from now."

"Don't worry, Nobuyuki-san," politeness in Seto's voice, "I'm sure Himawari and I can find ways to make our waiting hours pass."

"Yappi!" seconded Mihoshi cheerfully.

"Sayonara," Nobuyuki's goodbye was full of smiles as he took his foot off the brake.

"Osewa-sama (Thank you sir for helping)," Seto added a bow to put more

formality to her departing words.

"Ja ne!" Mihoshi waved her right hand at the departing van.

Once the van disappeared, Seto turned to Mihoshi and asked, "So Himawari, what do you want to do first?"

Mihoshi stiffed the air before saying, "My stomach is saying we should

investigate where this wonderful smell is coming from."

"It seems to be coming from that vendor," Seto made a motion with her head.

"Niji-dono, you would've made a great keisatsukan!" love for her godmother could be heard in Mihoshi's praise.

"With your natural skill next to me," Seto's countered with an equal measure of love and pride for her godchild, "it's easy for me to appear to be a genius."

Mihoshi giggled with her left hand to her lips, "I'm only hungry wa."

"In that case," a teasing tone in Seto's voice, "let's recharge your battery."

From anyone else Mihoshi would have felt hurt but she knew her godmother, so she just nodded her blond head and both walked over to the vendor, in less than five minutes both were sitting on a park bench, savoring their first small bits of sweet potato while looking at the multicolored flower beds and the few young couples, who picked this quiet time to share hands and hearts.

"This is sooo gu!" Mihoshi happily said as she took another bit of the opened end of her foiled hot potato.

"Un!" Seto acknowledged with a mouth full of soft delight, when both women reached the midway point of their golden spud, Seto decided to approach a concern that was on her mind and with her red eyes upon her food, she asked, "You had me a little worried there, Himawari," then she glanced at Mihoshi, whose eyes were closed because of the heavenly taste, "because of the way you grinned at me when I told the others about my fears for Yosho-dono's safety."

"Yummy!" Seto heard a child's delight in Mihoshi's English exclamation, then the blonde's eyes flew open and blue worry was in them, "Oi! Gomen gomen, Niji-dono," her tone reflecting confusion, "I just thought you and Katsuhito-san knew where Yosho-sama was hiding."

"Hiding?" in her whole lifespan there were only three persons who could invoke surprise from Seto, one of them was Mihoshi.

"Un!" conviction in Mihoshi's bright face, "the words I heard you two use made me believe it," then her confusion returned, "I mean I would feel shame if the person I abandoned, the person who still loves me, came searching for me."

A single heartbeat passed before Seto draped her left arm over Mihoshi's sagging shoulders and she gently hugged them, worry melted from her heart by Mihoshi's words, saying, "I keep forgetting you can hear a mosquito's whispered words," then Seto decided to take a risk, "You know about the lifespan of the bondmates of Tsunami's children?"

"Hai," Mihoshi's blue eyes cleared by Seto's question and affectionate touch, "it's the reason why I believed your mego was alive."

"Ayeka-dono has also concluded her oniisan is alive because of Funaho-Ki," took another bite of her sweet potato, chewed and swallowed before adding, "and because her love won't accept anything else."

"Neither would you, Niji-dono," Mihoshi finished off her baked vegetable with a smile on her face, "Yosho-dono is your favorite."

"Iie, Himawari," Seto's correction full of love, "he and you share an equal part of my kokoro."

"Even though I'm made of wire and wax," Seto could hear a sliver of fear in Mihoshi's voice.

It was this point that Seto realized her earlier comment about recharging Mihoshi's battery had lifted up her godchild's darkest fears. So Seto smiled and holding the last piece of her sweet patato, in her right hand, waved it before Mihoshi's face, taking the clue with a giggle Mihoshi opened her red lips and Seto filled her godchild's mouth, with the orange vegatable. Then the elder princess used the same hand to lightly place her index finger between Mihoshi blond brows and in a kind voice said, "the blue light from your eyes is the same light that caught my heart when you were a kodomo and just as Misaki-chan is the fruit of my body and Azusa is the bread of my hands, you are the honey of my nectar."

"Sugar and spice and everything nice!" Mihoshi sang out the childhood rhyme as her hands closed over Seto's right hand and held it to her right cheek then her dusky face bloomed roses as she realized she was responding to the touch of Seto's body, her voice saying with gratitude, "Domo arigato for the indirect kiss."

"What else is required by a nazukeoya but to show her nazukego how special she is," Mihoshi held Seto's left hand in her lap as the blue-haired princess' spoke, "and I know how much Juraijin culture must seem so cool and distant when compared to the warm and closeness found in Seniwajin culture."

"Oya Ma! I would never think that way, especially not of you, Niji-dono," Mihoshi grin full of sunshine, "you helped me come to terms with the loss of Noda-san and Kiyone."

"But you still have nightmares ne?" Seto's voice edged with a mother's sorrow.

"I live in my dreams as much as I live in this world," Mihoshi carefully squeezed Seto's hand, "it makes me feel alive."

"Just remember when your dream world is at its darkest moment," Seto's voice full of strong love, "there are many who carry you in their hearts," then a humorous tone entered Seto's voice, "and I'll bet you wouldn't mind being in Tenchi-dono's heart."

Mihoshi's body became a pretzel around her godmother's hand, her face became reddish black and cloud level giggles erupted from her mouth, her own mind full of embarrassment, then when she opened her eyes and discovered a surprising sight, an elderly man was standing before her and Seto, "Ano?" was all she could say.

"Good morning, young ladies," the man in baggy brown baggy pants and an oversized green coat said in classroom English, "I was wondering if you would be interested in a guide tour of my fair city," his black eyes held only kindness, "since your features suggest to me you are tourists of my people's homeland."

Seto had a blank look on her face and it was Mihoshi's fair understanding of English that came to their aid, "Thank . . . you . . . sir," it took some effort on her part to get her tongue around those words, "but we are waiting . . . for the stores . . . to open," then she shifted to Nihongo as she let go of Seto's hand and stood up, "I'm Kuramitsu Mihoshi," she gave the elder gentleman a bow, then continued as Seto stood up and bowed, "and this person next to me is Kubiha Seto, we are staying with relatives at their place up in the hills."

The old man grinned, returned the women's bow and then said, "Forgive this old man for mistaking you two for Amerika tourists."

"It was a natural mistake . . . " Seto paused.

"Once more, my age has worn down my manners," the elder's smile grew a little bigger, "I'm Sato Toshio."

"You are forgiven, Sato-san," Seto continued as she looked at Mihoshi, "and we both would appreciate some pleasant conversation as we await for the appointed time."

"I would love to know more about Kurashiki!" Mihoshi added her two cents.

"Yorokonde shimasho (I'm delighted to do that for you!)!" a grateful tone in Toshio's voice at Seto giving him a chance to save face, "Ima, in this park I can tell you about Kanryu-ji, Seigan-ji and Honei-ji, as well as Achi-jinja."

"A friend of mine has mentioned to me the uniqueness of Achi-jinja," Mihoshi heard interest in Seto's pleasant voice, "could you show it to us?"

"Hai," a cheerful tone in Toshio's response, "Just follow me."

As the three made their way through the park, Toshio pointed out the layout of the flower beds and how most of the beautiful flower gardens in Nihon were based on the ones in Europe, when they went under the torii, the man's changed the subject, "the Achi-jinja holds a sacred spot in the hearts of the people of Okayama-ken, on the same level as the Masaki-jinja," a prideful tone edged his voice, "and the shrines of Kibitsuhiko, known to many as Momotaro."

"The Peach Boy ne?" Mihoshi asked.

"Ee," Toshio's smiled became a delighted grin, "you are familiar with our folk tales."

"My nazukego," a naïve tone in Mihoshi's voice, "would tell me stories that she learned from her daughter-in-law."

Toshio didn't miss the loving look the ebony women gave the taller woman, just as he hadn't missed the way the two females had shared loving touches and tender words on the park bench, but just as he did then he decided that their relationship wasn't any of his concern, so he asked, "What was your nazukego's daughter-in-law's name, I might know them?"

Mihoshi looked up at the sky with her right index finger to her lower lip, a thoughtful look on her face, "I think her name is Masaki Funaho," then she looked at her companion.

"Hai," Seto confirmed with a warm memory in her eyes, "her midnight hair surrounded a face like the pale full moon, her demeanor soft like falling petals yet her will like a flowing river."

"A daughter-in-law to be proud of," Toshio said with approval then his face became considerate as he continued, "and although I don't recognize her name, I did have a Masaki Tenchi as a student in my chudoku (junior high school) English class."

"That's who we're staying with!" Mihoshi's statement was full of good cheer.

"A nice young man," Toshio nodded his head, "mostly because of his ojiisama, the guji of Masaki-jinja."

"This staircase is similar to the one at the Masaki-jinja," said Mihoshi as they went up the stairs.

"Although this hill is a more leisurely climb than the one upon which the Masaki-jinja is located," Seto calmly added.

"It should be, both Achi-jinja and the Masaki-jinja were constructed at the same time," Toshio explained as he walked on the right side of the two ladies, "most likely with the same stone and probably by the same builder since the only differences between the two is the long staircase of the Masaki-jinja and the numerous torii of the Achi-jinja."

Halfway up the staircase a set of five torii marked the rest spot but as Seto passed under them, her skin tingled and for a moment it felt like her body had passed into a bubble, Mihoshi had noted her godmother's silent gasp and was about to ask what was wrong when the Juraijin princess asked, "To which kami is the Achi-jinja dedicated?"

For a few minutes no answer came from the man, then Seto and Mihoshi heard solemn words, "You won't find it in any history books or in the poetry of the great masters but you will find it hidden in the oral history of Bitchu-ken and Bizen-ken and in the physical presence of Achi-jinja," both women heard Toshio voice shifted to a storyteller's tone, "for seven-hundred-years ago Chinese soldiers disembarked upon a shore below Washu-zan, sent by their Mongol rulers to conquer my homeland just as they tried two times before."

All three stood before a red torii that marked the entrance into the shrine's courtyard, Toshio voice full of knowing, "But unlike those times when they were stopped by unpreparedness or by the breath of the kami, the horse riders'leaders were arrogant in their certainty because they had tilled the earth, planted the rice and had come to help the provincial daimyo in the harvest," a look of shame filled the elder man's face.

"They had betrayed their countrymen," Seto had to force a gem cutting hardness in her eyes to hide her body's numbness caused by the nimbus energy that seemed to come from all around her. 

"Oi, how terrible!" Mihoshi cried with her fists underneath her horrified sapphire eyes but what put that heartfelt emotion in her words was what she saw happening to her godmother yet it was a silent no from Seto's lips that put the breaks on any action from her concerned godchild.

"Hai, they did it because of the unbroken chain of civil war, famine and plague had made their thirst for peace so overpowering that they would accept a foreign yoke," Toshio went through the entrance with the ladies next to him and all three walked upon the cobbled stone path to the granite water basin, "it's the reason why there is no recognition of this event in our social consciousness," he shook his white-haired head, "pleasant revolts we remembered, assassination of shitei we remembered and roads with decayed bodies on crosses we remembered but we forgot the moment where we lost hope that we could govern ourselves."

Toshio picked up the sacred ladle and poured water over first his left hand, switched the wooden instrument to the before mentioned hand so he poured the water over his right hand before taking a sip to rinse his mouth and spit it into the granite drain. Mihoshi followed the example but couldn't stop from saying, "Kya, it tastes tinny!" 

Mihoshi's comment distracted Toshio from seeing the ladle's handle fumbled by Seto's deaden fingers, instead the black-eyed man smiled, saying, "It's caused by the old water pipes."

The elderly guide turned from the ladies and paused a moment to remember where he left off in his story, giving Mihoshi a chance to pick up the ladle, quietly scoop water from the basin and pour it over her godmother's shaking hands. The white-haired man was still collecting his thoughts when the ebony lady whispered softly in Seniwago as she held the ladle to the pale lady's lips, "Rainbow of my life, what's hurting you?"

Seto sipped, rinsed and spit out the water, then willed her body to stand tall but before she could answer Mihoshi's plea, Toshio turned to face them and continued his story, "Here upon this hill each daimyo waited with his retainers and his family for the Mongol leaders and their soldiers to come, so they could swear allegiance to them," as the old school teacher led them across the courtyard toward the haiden hall, he saw how the younger lady had drifted to her left so to walk just behind the older lady but his line-of-sight prevented him from noticing the supportive hand under Seto's right elbow nor the grateful glance given by the taller woman, "As the great Mongol army marched across the valley in the dawning sun, the reflected light from their weapons and armor momentarily blinded the people on this hill. When their vision cleared, they found three figures standing before the seated daimyos, the figure on the right was a man of winter years with a bokken in his weathered hands, the middle figure was a woman of summer with hair like the sky and the left figure was a man of autumn with skin like the darkest night."

When Toshio, Seto and Mihoshi reached the wooden steps to the haiden hall, the man's thin right hand pulled the thick hemp rope and rung the small brass bells attached at the top. "As the wave of shock at the three appearances rippled through the people on the hill, a female voice like those brass bells was heard by every man, woman and child, 'How has I failed you? Did not my body warm you on the coldest winter days, did not my tears fall on the spring days, did not my breath cool you on the hottest summer days and did not my laughter give you sake for the autumn days? How has my son failed you? Did he not fill these islands with his children, did he not defeat the greatest oni that threatened to enslave his children, did he not find rice to end his children's hunger and did he not teach his children what honor meant?'"

The retired teacher took a step back, clapped his hands twice before clasping them in silent prayer as he bowed his head in the direction of the honden hall, which both Mihoshi and Seto performed to show respect to his traditions, once the prayers were done he returned to his story, "Then they heard a male voice that was like the sound of falling snow, 'what life will you have once I come for you, what life will your wives and children have when they make the track to my domain. Will you and they walk on two feet or will you and they crawl through decay, will you and they taste rice or will you and they eat filth, will you and they sing of joy or will you and they be as silent as lice? I care not when or where I take you, your wives and your children from this existence but what will happen to you once you, your wives and your children make the journey from my realm.'"

Toshio guided Mihoshi and Seto around the haiden hall along a covered walkway while his words kept coming to them, "Lastly a male voice like that of the crackled fire came, 'What examples of men you are for your wives to be proud of and your children to imitate. Tell me what made you realize that you were sheep and not your own masters, tell me what made you realize that your countrymen are worthless, tell me what made you realize that the kami is all smoke. Was it your kin's blood that washed away your blindness, was it your rice fields burning that cleared your minds or was it the screams of your wives and your children that awoke you from your slumber, yet your children and your wives are alive, your fields all golden with rice and your ancestors' graves are not desecrated? So please tell me what test made you discover the truth of your existence, give to me your wisdom for this act you are performing.'"

Once Toshio, Mihoshi and Seto reached the back of the haiden hall, they saw a line of eleven red torii that stood over a twenty yard-clobbered path, from the haiden hall to the honden hall, but Seto saw and felt more than these things. The energy here was so thick that everything around her took on a grayish tint, washing the color from her eyes, and every step she took this energy would dance over her skin. 'I dare not use my abilities or those of Akakani,' the eldest princess fought to keep her thoughts clear, 'it would scare our guide and I don't know how this power would react.'

Mihoshi saw the sweat on her godmother's forehead and her enhanced senses heard the rapped beating of Seto's heart but the policewoman couldn't detect what was causing it, once more she placed her lips to Seto's right ear, asking in Seniwago, "Rainbow of my life, please tell me what hurts you?"

Seto placed a painful smile on her face, placed her own lips to Mihoshi's pointy left ear and shakily replied in the same language, "Flower like the sun . . . I'm in no pain . . . there is a presence," her eyes looked toward the honden hall, " . . . in this place."

A glance behind by Toshio showed what he thought was a kiss on the ear by each of the women but again he chooses to be blind of it, so he continued his story as they walked underneath the eleven torii, "Only the rustle of tree leaves and grass filled the air for a time, then a daimyo stood up, drew his katana and wakizashi while saying to his companions, 'I go to fight the invaders,' then he said to his kneeling wife, 'Doka take care of our children.' The wife nodded once and the daimyo made his way down the hill with his retainers falling in behind him, each of them saying their farewells to loved ones. Once one daimyo made the choice more daimyos stood up, repeated the same words and made the trek to the field between the hill and the oncoming Mongol army, soon only the wives and the children stood on the hill."

After Toshio, Seto and Mihoshi passed under the last torii, the man turned to them and said, "I can't take you inside the honden hall, only the shinshoku and the miko can enter the most scared building in a jinja," it was at this point he saw the sweat dripping down Seto's face, "Masaki-san, doka gai ka?"

"Daijobu (I'm fine), Toshio-sensei," a brittle smile upon Seto's lips, "I think the sun and the humidity are bothering me."

"Oi?" Toshio did find the morning air humid but cool, thinking, 'maybe she comes from a colder climate.'

"Let me carry your coat, Niji-dono," Mihoshi's blue eyes pleaded for Seto to let her do something more for her.

"Domo arigato, Himawari," Toshio smiled at the pet names the two women used for each other and watched as Mihoshi helped Seto with her coat. Without the coat on Seto felt a little better and so she said, "Doka continue your story."

"Do you want to continue the tour," genuine concern in Toshio dark eyes, "or do you want to rest here?"

"Let's continue," Seto gestured onward with her left hand, Mihoshi looked at her godmother and gave a hesitant nod.

Now that Seto's weakness was out in the open, Mihoshi's left arm was snugly around her godmother's slim waist while she carried the tall lady's coat with her other hand, Seto couldn't help but smile at the way her feet felt like they were walking-on-air. As the three went around the left side of the honden hall, Toshio continued, "When the Mongol army was less than thirty feet from the assembled daimyo and their retainers, a thunderous cry erupted from the samurai, 'AO AMATERASU!' The invaders froze in surprise as the samurai charged them and carved a swath of blood through their ranks. Many of the invaders swore they saw an old man with red eyes take soldiers' lives with a touch of his wooden staff while another man of blacken skin consumed men in pillars of fire when his flaming sword touched them. But even with such divine aid the unending numbers of the Chinese soldiers overwhelmed the few Nihongo warriors, once the last samurai fell the two divine spirits departed."

The sight Toshio showed Seto and Mihoshi left both of them in stunned silence for in front of the ladies stood a grove of willows with hairlike black moss hanging from the limbs, Toshio's sad voice continued, "The angry Mongol leaders led their soldiers toward the hill to take vengeance upon the wives and children of the betrayers but they stopped cold at what they found, in the blood red grasses were the cold bodies of children and babies, red smiles under their chins to match the peaceful looks upon their face. In the trees above, hung by their long black hair, were the lifeless bodies of those children's mothers. Without thinking twice the Mongol leaders led their soldiers back onto the boats, sailed back into the setting sun and told the Great Khan that skulls was the only harvest the islanders offered them. The Mongols never came again."

"It's so sad wa yo!" Mihoshi sniffed as her lips trembled as tears spilled from her sky-colored eyes.

"Hai," Seto agreed, "but it was a necessary sacrifice."

"Achi-jinja is dedicated to their redemption through sacrifice," Toshio's voice full of awe, "and it is said that the honden hall contains three treasures left behind by the three divine spirits, a bokken of white wood, a necklace of diamond tears and a huge sword that would take two men to swing," then his voice dropped to a somber level, "on days after of heavy rain you can sometimes find a child's tooth in the grass."

"The children always bear the burden of adult mistakes," a bittersweet smile on Seto's face, then she looked at Mihoshi, "speaking of burdens why don't we rest under the shade of those trees."

"I don't think the kami of this jinja would mind two beautiful ladies resting under the shade of this sacred grove," a kind tone to Toshio's voice.

Mihoshi half-carried Seto to the grove and helped the Juraijin princess down onto the ground. There Seto sighed and leaned against the whispering willow while Mihoshi knelt on her left side while Toshio looked down at them, saying, "let me see if I can get you something to drink from the miko at the charm booth."

"That would be wonderful," appreciation plain on Seto's pale face.

"Doka, doka (Please, please)!" Mihoshi grabbed Toshio's right hand and stuffed money in it.

"You didn't need to . . . " Toshio stopped his objection to the money when he saw Mihoshi's naked fear for her companion, then he said, "I'll be back as quickly as possible."

"Arigato!" worry made strong Mihoshi's thanks as her right hand touched Seto's clammy left hand.

Toshio briskly walked around the corner of the honden hall and Mihoshi returned her attention where she found Seto with eyes closed, "NIJI-DONO!"

Seto's glazed eyes half open at Mihoshi's shout and the steely grip of her godchild's ebony hands on her shoulders, with a listless voice she said, "The presence is probing me . . . "

Immediately Mihoshi pulled Seto's mirror from the coat pocket and put it in her godmother's hands, suddenly the probing of Seto's mind stopped, her vision cleared as the energy dissipated and the presence vanished. Mihoshi grinned hugely and bounced up and down on her knees at Seto's crystal clear vision, saying in English, "Oh, Goody, it worked!"

"I . . . I didn't do anything!" unvarnished truth in Seto's puzzled words, her wide eyes staring at the mirror in her hands, "and neither did Akakani!"

"Ano . . . maybe it recognized your mirror," Mihoshi looked first at Seto and then at the mirror and then back at Seto.

It was like lightening the change in Seto's face, going from confusion to enlightenment, then she said, "It's possible," her right-hand loving traced the carved images on the mirror's back, "like all heirlooms of the Oken Kazoku Jurai, the mirror was created during the Time of Legends."

"I remembered the bedtime story you told me about the mirror," Mihoshi's eyes full of a child's wonder.

Seto's smile had a mother's love in it as her inner eye saw a blond-haired ebony child listening to her with wide-eyed fascination, once more she repeated those words, "Upon light feet Tsunami-megami walked amongst her creations and at a mirror lake she found Horosha with carving tools and pieces of solid resin from her children, the Space Trees. Without revealing herself to the Saishono Kishi Jurai, she examined each of the finished items and found her delight increased ten fold at their beauty. In a voice of praise Tsunami said, 'You have created wonders from nothingness just as I did when I shaped Jurai and gave my breath to my children.'

"'Not true Tsunami-dono,' a look of modesty upon Horosha's scarred face, 'I only used my eyes and each piece revealed to me what it wanted to be, this one,' he held up an oblong block of resin, 'showed me it wanted to be a sword hilt for a famous warrior, this one,' his right hand picked up a ring of interlocking leaves, 'wanted to be a ring for a courageous young noble,' he put down the ring and then pick up a mirror, 'and this one wanted to be a mirror for a beautiful lady.'

"With sight of the multitude of possible futures Tsunami asked, 'After you have given them their proper forms, Horosha-dono, may I use them?'

"'Of course, Tsunami-dono,' then he grinned slyly, 'although you might want to ask them first.'

"The song of merriment filled Tsunami's ki and she said with a happy smile, 'I think they will consent because I will give each of them their fondest wish, to be wanted and loved by their owners.'

"So on the day I became the bondmate to Akakani, I heard Tsunami's voice inside my head, 'Hold out your hands.' I obeyed and to my joy this mirror appeared in them, then Tsunami said, 'This is your key to your bondmate, let it be the symbol of your devotion to each other.'"

Mihoshi smiled at her own remembrance of that night where under the cover of her bed, a notorious space pirate told a Galaxy Police officer's granddaughter the origins of the glowing mirror that was between them. Then both ladies jerked back into the present when a male voice spoke, "Here you go, some chilled eiyo," both ladies looked and smiled their gratitude at Toshiro as the man couched in front of them and handed them each a ice cold can of the dairy drink while adding, "although I think Kuramitsu-san should exchange this foreign money for some yen if she plans to do some shopping with it," he took out the money Mihoshi gave him and handed it back to her.

"Oops," a funny look on Mihoshi's face matched her English word, which

conjured a titter from Seto's lips.

"Dewa, it sounds like you're better," Toshiro smiled at Seto.

Seto smiled back as she popped the lid on the moist can, took a big drink before saying with a sigh, "Hai, I feel much better."

Mihoshi found the milky texture of eiyo made it a tasty drink, "Arigato, Toshiro-san."

Toshiro nodded at Mihoshi praise then checked his watch and saying, "If you leave now, by the time you get out of the park, the stores will just be opening."

Mihoshi's sapphire eyes held concern for her godmother, so Seto decided to answer them, "Un, let's go."

Toshiro helped Mihoshi to stand and both of them helped Seto onto her firm feet. As the three started to walk away from the willow grove the eldest princess was putting her mirror back into her coat pocket when the object's glassy surface caught a figure in the grove. A quick glance over her right shoulder revealed no one standing under the moss-covered limbs but the tall lady was sure that her mirror didn't lie, her last thoughts before going around the corner of the honden hall was, 'I wonder if Tsunami-megami knows about this place?'

******** 

Kurashiki Rail Station

Ryoko walked out of the rail station women's restroom and looked around. Once more she was wearing the bright pink lady's business suit with a tie decorated with tiny red hearts, the only addition she had added to the attire was a pair of knee-high frosty pink boots. A quick look at the station's clock showed she was on time, then she sighted Mulder in his dark brown overcoat just as he was getting off a train.

"YOO-HOO, YOO-HOO," Ryoko waved her outstretched arms over the sea of heads and it only took a few seconds for the man to give a more sedate return wave with his right hand. Then Ryoko jumped a little when an English-speaking female voice spoke behind her, "You are Ryoko Hakubi?"

Ryoko spun around and found a brown-haired woman dressed in a Nihon

policewoman's uniform just a foot or two from her, caught off guard Ryoko suspiciously asked, "How did you know?"

"I was told by Michiyuki-san to look for a pretty gaijin with cyan hair," amusement in her bright eyes, just then Mulder joined them, "and you must be Fox Mulder."

"Just call me, Mulder," Ryoko was barely able to keep her lips from smiling at Mulder discomfort at the mention of his first name.

The policewoman came to attention and gave them a crisp salute before saying in English, "I'm Aoi Futaba of the Kurashiki Police Department," Mulder returned the salute but he grinned at Ryoko's half-hearted one, "Lieutenant Michiyuki is unable to meet you so I was sent in his place to take you to the crime scene."

"Hmm . . . I wondered what happened to him?" a frown on Mulder's face.

"I heard something happened to one of his witnesses at the hospital," Aoi volunteered as she motioned Mulder and Ryoko to follow her, both the pink lady and the American exchanged knowing looks as each was pretty sure which witness the policewoman was talking about.

Ryoko and Mulder followed Aoi to a blue and white Nihon police traffic car, the cyan-haired woman was able to tell that Mulder's pale green eyes were glued to the very feminine way the young woman was walking. A slight pout at being ignored by the brown-haired man instantly changed to a wicked grin and Ryoko slyly commented, "This is the first time I've voluntarily ridden in a police spaceship."

"A police spac . . ." Aoi's momentary confusion mercurially changed to a small pearly white grin before she said, "you mean a police car!"

"Yes," Mulder gave Ryoko an I'm-not-amused smile as he opened the back right passengers' door for Ryoko, then his thin smile transformed into a wide grin when he added, Yes, that's what my permanent assistant means."

"Permanent!" Ryoko's ass smacked loudly against the car's back seat.

"My department is new and it's already overrun by cases needing solutions," a guarded look on Mulder's face as he leaned down against the car and looked down at the shocked space pirate, "my boss has asked me to upgrade my temporary employees to permanent status."

Mulder didn't get a chance to react, only surprise filled his eyes as Ryoko's right-hand grabbed his white-and-brown stripped tie just under the knot, yanked his head down to her level where she threw her slim arms around his neck and hugged him, her soft teary words filled his right ear, "Thank you so very much!"

When Ryoko let go of Mulder, he still felt lightheaded as he closed the back door, turned right, opened the front passengers' door and got in. 'I expect Ryoko to be mad at me for making a cop out of her,' thought Mulder as more confusion was added to his mind when he saw the knowing smile on Aoi's face, 'or at least put-out for being drafted.'

Aoi on the other hand could plainly see the pure joy on Ryoko's face and how that positive feeling was directed at one person, she could also tell by the stiffness of Mulder's posture that the American had anticipated a different reaction. 'I wish I concentrated more on my Eigo homework and less on sports,' the young woman thought as she started the car, 'Yoriko-san would never forgive me if I miss something juicy about these two gaijins.'

Another glance by Aoi showed Ryoko's face shift from overflowing joy to a cat's curiosity before she said, "Mulder, where's your redheaded shadow?"

"Remember what I said about cases?" Mulder tried with only a little success to make his voice sound neutral.

"Yeah," Aoi was fascinated by how catlike Ryoko's movements were.

"Scully's abilities as a trained doctor made it a no-brainer for her to be in charge of that case," Mulder's voice finally reached a normal tone, "while you, I and Michiyuki will continue to investigate this case."

"I hope she will be al . . ." Ryoko bit her lower lip at what just leaked out of her mouth, then her voice shuttered, " . . . I . . . I hope Carrottop doesn't rules-lawyer her men to death."

Aoi could see the foxy curiosity on Mulder's face before he turned halfway around and looked Ryoko squarely in the eye before saying, "Although this is Scully's first case as chief investigator, I'm sure she can handle her assistants in a professional manner." If Aoi hadn't had to concentrate on the morning traffic, she would've seen Mulder's right index finger against his nose, but she did see by way of the rearview mirror how embarrassed Ryoko looked, 'Kuso and they said we would never get a chance to know some real Amerikajins.'

********

Funao Rail Station

To Scully it was like something out of a Michael Chricten book or a bad sci-fi movie, masked and uniformed personnel with strangely shaped rifles patrolled a yellowed taped area surrounding the Funao Rail Station while other people in white environmental suits moved in and out between the rail station and several parked vans, vans marked MK or NZK. Scully arrived in a MK environmental van along with two MK agents meant to be her assistants. AT the checkpoint a guard dressed like the other uniformed personnel allowed them to enter after going over their ID cards and authorization papers. Scully put on her heavy fabric and glass helmet, locked it to the rest of her suit and then used her tongue to push down her helmet's radio button, "Testing, testing, one, two, three," then she held her right hand over her head, "Is everyone receiving me?"

A chorus of "Hai," was the response from the people on her wavelength, then the van stopped and two uniformed persons opened the back doors from the outside. Scully and her people climbed out of the back of the van and they were greeted by a masked man with Sugou on his name tag, he bowed to Scully before saying, "Konnichiwa, Scully-san, I'm glad you have arrived."

Scully and her people returned the bow before she said, "The military isn't usually happy to have a civilian ordering their troops."

"I'm Colonel Sugou Ryou," replied the average height man, then in English he added, "and from one military brat to another, I believe I can trust you."

Scully allowed an amused look on her face, saying, "Our people aren't wearing the typical Jieitai uniform." 

"Iie, they're not," a nod from the colonel's head, "due to the fact that our people come from various backgrounds, some are military, some are civilian and some are in-between."

"A paramilitary unit?" Scully guessed.

"Hai, and unlike the OIK," he split out the last word like it fouled his mouth, "our orders come from our government."

"That doesn't mean justice and honor won't be sacrificed for political goals," Scully comment heavy with logic, "just as the early press release reported a toxic chemical spill occurred here."

"I know, Scully-san," resignation in the voice coming from Scully's helmet speaker, "but at least I can tell our people that it's their country and their world we are protecting."

It took seconds for the impact of the colonel's words to bring a question from Scully's lips, "Sugou-san, you are a believer?"

"Un," dead certainty in Sugou's tone, "and so are our people," then he put out his right hand to Scully, "it's the reason we're assigned to your department."

To describe Scully's reaction as surprise, would've been an understatement, still she reached out, grasped and shook his hand while saying, "I and Mulder aren't use to this kind of support."

"It's also possible they're decided to put all of us in the same place so they can keep a shine in their eyes," nodded toward the surrounding buildings, "and roll us out whenever the density of our population makes a cover-up impossible."

"So instead we supply a performance for the media," Scully guessed as they both turned and started to walk to the rail station, "by scrabbling about, make a lot of noise and later give out a plausible answer."

"You and Mulder-san established the procedure with the Seto-ohashi investigation," Scully was sure she heard a note of approval in Sugou's voice, "and our government has decided to use the same method for this incident and any future ones," then a hint of gallows humor entered his tone as a man came up to them with a palmtop, "of course once someone grabs the government's tail, everyone will be shoving a sail up their ass."

"Except us," Scully took the palmtop from the man and started to read the screen.

"Tadshii, we're here as fire control," a note of doubt in Sugou's words, "hoping to keep those born under the sun safe."

"Our people won't always be deployed like this," Scully took a plastic stylus, signed her name to the palmtop document and then pressed the e-mail button.

"It's better than doing nothing," Sugou countered, "it was getting boring playing soldier and not getting the chance to do something important," then curiosity touched his tone, "at least this gives me a chance to find out if they're such things as little green men, oni and sailor fuku vigilantes."

"Dewa, the cover story for this incident might end up being the truth," Scully returned the palmtop to its holder and entered the building.

"That was the medical report you just signed off on na," Sugou followed her in.

"Two actually," Scully returned as she headed for the isolated passenger cars, "the first one was on stained brain tissue samples taken from the dead found in the passengers' car, it showed massive cellular damage in the frontal lobes," her emerald eyes couldn't miss the blood on the station's floors and walls.

"And the second report?" Sugou's voice sound strained.

"The second report was on a body of a preteen boy," Scully paused only

slightly at the passenger car door.

"I saw the kodomo's body," a deep pain in Sugou's voice, "he was nothing more than skin and bones."

"Let my hands be cut off before I do any harm to a child," Scully quoted a Nihonjin saying, everyone who heard her over their speakers gave her a silent nod, then she added, "the body was so emaciated that the coroner couldn't believe the boy was reported missing just a day ago."

A stunned silence hung in the air before Sugou exclaimed, "Shinjinnai!"

"The coroner reported that Togashi Osamu had all signs of have been starved to death," Scully stood where the child's body was found, then turned three-sixty as her gaze took in the debauchery that the floor and seats showed, "yet his body could be the one clue to what caused this orgy to occur."

"The police reported people being sexually attacked by the passengers coming out of this train car, isn't hard to believe once you seen some of the assailants and their victims," Sugou regained some control over his emotions.

"I read the reports that described the attackers as sexually depraved," Scully walked over to the two white personal taking samples from the leather seats, "yet one witness reported seeing an unmolested woman come from this same car."

"An unharmed woman coming out of here," Sugou wondered as he examined once more the insides of the passenger car, "could the witness be mistaken?"

"It's possible but unlikely," Scully's right hand pointed out something caught between a seat cover and its metal support, "in the months since I joined Mulder, I've discovered that no piece of information can be discounted as impossible."

Sugou's head made a slow nod before he said, "I'll ask the local police to question the townspeople, see if any of them spotted any strangers."

"Gu," Scully commented, "I'll be at the hospital, talking to the doctors about the people taken into custody."

"Are you sure you want to go there," a worried tone in Sugou's voice as he followed Scully to the left end of the car, "It's not a place . . . "

" . . . for a woman," Scully finished with a knowing look on her face.

Sugou shook his head but you could hear apologetic tone in his words, "It's not a place for the weak of heart."

"I survived ten years of army food, six years of hospital food and

Mulder-san's coffee," a tinkle in Scully's emerald eyes, "I'll be fine."

"That strong," amusement in Sugou's voice.

"Rip van Winkle would be Rip without the Winkle," Scully followed the two white suited technicians, she had helped, then she added "call me if anything develops here."

"Hai, Scully-san," Sugou chest puffed out in pride because of Scully's trust in him.

********

Nagai High School

Tenchi arrived at his classroom just before his homeroom teacher entered, which earned the youth a hard stare from the older man. It also prevented him from talking to any of his friends although Robert O'Neill gave him an Irish Wolfhound grin while the class representative called the students to stand up, bow to the teacher and to sit. Tenchi didn't need to be a mind reader to know what his pale skinned friend was thinking, 'If I had that many bishojo at my home I wouldn't mind barely making it to class.'

At the ten o'clock break before the earth science teacher came in, Robert turned to face Tenchi and then asked in a low voice, "So did one of your guests detain you in bed?"

Tenchi blushed for Robert's accusation brought back to him his encounter with Ryoko in the furo, but then he looked fierce at his blond friend, saying, "Robert-kun, Can't you look at a girl," the brown-eyed boy looked left and right to make sure none of his girl classmates where eavesdropping of their conversation, "except at mune level."

"Hai, Tenchi-kun," Robert smirked, "I can and not get a nosebleed doing it," then he gave Tenchi a knowing look, "unlike a shy shonen I know."

Tenchi could only shake his head at having his accusation turned back on him, then with a trance of anger still in his eyes, he defensively said, "I just wish you didn't talk about them like they were just sex objects."

"Dewa, I will have to say one thing, Tenchi-kun," Robert lifted his desktop, pulled out his earth science book and closed the lid, "those ojosans have surely gotten the dullness out of you."

"Me, Dull?" earthquake level shock in Tenchi's exclamation, then Tenchi's head sank a little when he noticed the noise around him had stopped. Tenchi grinned sheepishly to his staring classmates, who went back to what they were doing before he interrupted them.

"Aye, Tenchi my lad," Robert switched into English as Tenchi leaned over so their conversation would be a little more private, "you have reputation for being as dull as vanilla ice cream," then a twinkle appeared in his gray eyes, "of course this is what happens when one is raised by his priest grandfather and his overworked father."

"So I'm dull, so what?" Tenchi carefully replied in English.

"Ahhh but that's not true anymore," Robert gave Tenchi a sly look.

Tenchi's eyes reached moon size and his speech slipped back into Nihongo, "You can get that kitsune look off your face, Robert-kun, I've done not one fumeiyo (dishonorable) thing with any of them."

Robert gave a low chuckle while saying, "I didn't . . . think you did . . . Tenchi-kun, not with your reputation as a person of great honor."

"Tha . . . that's not really true, Robert-kun," guilt and shame weighed heavy on Tenchi's soul, his inner sight flashback to night when Ryoko had destroyed his first high school.

Robert was surprised by Tenchi's reaction and he quickly acted, placing his right hand on his friend's right shoulder, saying, "Tenchi-kun, if you are trying to say you've done sinful acts," his shaggy hair framed a face aglow with kindness, "then I'll just have to say that to become honorable you must first know what shame is."

Tenchi was confused at first but then he remembered Robert was a Christian, "Is this more of your Katorikku (Catholic) philosophy, Robert-kun?"

"Some," then Tenchi saw a leprechaun look on Robert's face, "although I don't think elevating a shojo's knowledge about shonen's anatomy is such a high crime."

"Nani?" now Tenchi was truly perplexed.

"Un, when you told Ishikawa-san where she could find her brother," Robert-kun gave Tenchi a sideward glance, "you didn't know that part of the building was the boys' locker room," then merriment brightened his eyes, "and you made such a display of apologizing to her in front of her friends."

"Boku warui," Tenchi remembered saying those words to the tear-streaked girl as she sat between her best friends, he also remembered her nod of acceptance and the warm smile she gave him. It was at this point Tenchi's black eyebrows came down as he realized this occurrence happened in his sophomore year at his old school, "You're been checking me out."

"A couple of your classmates from your old school are going here," a lopsided grin on his Irish face, "so I told them I was your friend na?"

Tenchi's anger melted away at the openness of Robert's feelings, so he too smiled, saying, "Ee, you're my friend," then cat-footed curiosity filled his soul, "so what else did they tell you about me?"

"Dewa . . . " just then the earth science teacher entered the room, "I'll tell you at lunch."

"Oke," Tenchi agreed before both young men turned their attention to the front of the room.

********

Notes: This is a clean up chapter, designed to get the chapter breaks where I want them, which is why this chapter's ending is a little weak.

Bits and Pieces:

The Akakani is the Mikagami: When I started this series, I didn't know the name of Seto's bondmate, so I named it the Akakani (Nihongo for Red Crab) because of my belief in the closeness between Seto and Washu. The images of the Mikagami I have seen are about how I pictured the ship, a very feminine and lethal spaceship. The name Mikagami is interesting in a way it gives us a look at Seto's character (depending on the kaji used Mi = 1. body 2. person 3. flesh or 1. fruit, nut while kagami = mirror). I'm going to stick with Akakani for this series, so where I mention Akakani I mean Mikagami.

Flashbacks: I cut down the number of flashbacks down to just Mihoshi's and Washu's so I could keep the chapter down to a reasonable number of pages. I will keep on using flashbacks but only when necessary.

Achi-jinji: I created the legend of the Achi Shinto Shrine, I don't really much about the shrine except for three things: the shrine is dedicated to the city's patron kami, it has a lot of red torii arches and its granite staircase looks very much like the one used for the Masaki Shrine. The shrine does exist and can be found in a park in the middle of downtown Kurashiki.

Storyline: The main villain of this series has reappeared and people are moving in different directions. As before my focus is not only to entertain the reader but also to leave that person something to think about.

Characters:

Seto: I wanted to show the quiet strength and iron will that is part of Seto's personality as well as her love and kindness.

Washu: As readers have probably already noticed, Washu's flashbacks are about those events leading up to her creation of Kagato and Ryoko. The flashback in this chapter is an introduction to another event in her life, her life at the Tsunami abbey, on Kanemitsu. While I will be going back to the Kagato-Washu relationship in the next chapter, I will drop in more events from Washu's childhood, their significance is more connected to latter books in this series than with this one.

Mihoshi and Kiyone: You are probably thinking, 'So what, another Mihoshi-Kiyone lesbian relationship.' You are correct but I wanted to add depth and reasons for this type of love developing between the two.

Sasami and Ryoko: No, there isn't an lesbian relationship developing between Sasami and Ryoko. As pointed out by Ayeka the bond between Sasami and Ryoko is the type shared between sisters or between mother and daughter.

Ayeka: Once more Ayeka is on her quest to find Yosho and she has a new companion. As with the other characters, I'm trying to show different aspects of Ayeka's personality, both strength and weaknesses. I'm also trying to show her relationship with Ryoko isn't black and white.

Mihoshi: As many readers have probably already noticed, Mihoshi's flashbacks are actually two storylines: Mihoshi's life with Kiyone and her inner demons after Kiyone's death. The old guilt many survivors asked, "Why am I alive?"

Tenchi: More and more Tenchi is coming to accept his new houseguests as a part of his family and he is learning what it takes to handle each of them as both a person and as a woman.

Ryoko: Just like the other characters, I wanted to keep on showing how complex Ryoko's personality is and still have fun with her. Her relationship with each of the other characters is developing, sometimes in very amusing ways.

Sasami/Tsunami: Sasmai's desire to be a temporary mother for Ryoko was another way for me to show the multi-nature of Sasmi's being, her being a child and a matured goddess.

Scully: I wanted to give Scully a chance to be on her own. It also made more sense that she and Mulder couldn't investigate two separate cases together, at the same time.

Mulder: Let us see how Mulder and Ryoko work together as a team.

Aoi Futaba: Yes, this is the cross-dresser from "You're Under Arrest." I'm bring him into the series because I always planned to.

Maiko Kobington: Yes, this is Maiko Cobington, an actual person who went to school in Nihon. Her website plus answering my questions about Nihonjin school system have helped me a lot. This is my way of showing gratitude for her help.

Ohiten Rogers: It is going be interesting how the relationship between Ohiten and Ayeka will develop. I wonder what is going to happen once both of them reach Tokyo. Remember why Ayeka is going to Tokyo and where in Tokyo she will have to go to find her answers for her questions. Hint: 

Kuraihoshi: Once more the main villain of this story has made his return.


	6. Strange Days, Part Six: Fire and Rain

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo/No Need For Tenchi is a product of Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this wonderful series.

Disclaimer: The X-Flies is the product of Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this excellent series.

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess and You're Under Arrest are the product of Kosuke Fujishima, What's Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi, Ranma 1/2 is the product of Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor V and Sailor Moon are the product of Takeuchi Naoke, Nancy Drew is the product of Carolyn Keene and GTO is the product of Tohru Fujisama. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of these excellent series.

Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear in this series. All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure coincidence.

Notes: This is Chapter Six of Book Two in my crossover series, Strange Days. I would appreciate any C&C about this work. My two E-mail addresses are:

V_Bashaw@hotmail.com

Horosha@mangablast.com

The events in Book Two occur just after Episode Four ("Mihoshi Falls To The Land of Stars") and in the first season of the X-Flies (both taking place in 1992). If anyone is interested in using any of the characters I have created here, please contact me first (especially about Anthony MacClean). My knowledge of the training and organizational structure of law enforcement in Nihon has increased but at times I'm still assuming it is similar to ours. If you have questions about the story or how I portrayed the characters please read the notes at the end of each chapter and Book One, contact me at my e-mail addresses or post a message at the Ayeka Fan Club message board (www.ayekafanclub.org). I have created a glossary of Nihongo words, idioms and titles to help readers understand them. You can get it at TMFFA (tmffa.com under Crossover) or send me e-mail requesting it. My prereaders for Book Two are K.T.K. (carryover from Book One), Donald Dortmund, Fuzzy-Bunny (another carryover) and Top_Quark. Also Luriko-Ysabeth helped me on usage of Nihongo in fanfiction.

Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi Muyo to life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajshima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko, and Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Carter for his great series.

Warning: Just like the Tenchi Muyo OAV and the X-Flies this work contains adult language and situations (including some ecchi scenes), so any minor should get parents' permission before reading it.

********

Tenchi Muyo/X-Flies Crossover

Series Title: "Strange Days"

Book Two Title: "Fire and Rain"

A Fan-Fiction by Horosha

Copyright: Feb 28, 2003

Chapter Six: She Talks To Angels

Rose Petal Lingerie, Kurashiki Shopping Mall

Mihoshi's sapphire eyes fluttered open to behold the 3D image of the Pleiades that surrounded her bed, her sleepy mind wondered at the sight but then she heard a manly voice speak Seniwago, "Sand has left your eyes, Himawari."

Recognizing the voice instantly, her heartache lessened by the love she felt as she answered in Seniwago, "Little Brother Mikumo," the blond felt her right hand softly taken hold of by two rough hands before she turned her head to look at her brother's gentle green eyes, then she said, "Where are the others?"

"They are here too," Mikumo's voice had all the attitude of a grizzly bear as he sat next to his sister's prone body, "they sent me in first because they know how close we are."

Mikumo's sister turned her head to look once more at the close up images of the Pleiades before saying, "Did your hand make this possible?"

"Big Sister knows me well," Mikumo nodded his head, "for my mind remembered this was yours and Kiyone's favorite."

"I loved the way the burning suns framed Kiyone's body," then a faraway smile touched Mihoshi's lips, "and I think she liked what the light did to my lingerie."

"Like the bustier and flared panties of spider-weave," Mikumo grinned hugely at Mihoshi's blushing response, "I gave them to you for your birthday?"

"Kiyone's heart beat fast when she saw me in it," a look of knowing Mihoshi gave Mikumo, "just as you knew it would."

"It was my wish to make two ladies happy that night," Mihoshi caught the needle of pain in Mikumo's voice, "and every night they shared."

Mihoshi felt the squeeze of comfort her brother's hand gave her hand and she said, "Don't worry the youngest of my siblings, I will survive."

"Do you still want to wear a star?" Mikumo carefully asked as his right hand reached into his multicolored shirt pocket and held out her GP badge.

"I want to help people," Mikumo saw absoluteness in his sister's sapphire eyes as her left hand took the badge, "and I must because too many have died protecting it," then those same orbs filled with painful tears, "but I don't want anyone dying for me anymore."

"A captain commands," Mikumo tried very hard to keep his voice neutral, "and sometimes lives are lost."

"How can I balance the scales of loss and gain," Mihoshi's tears leaked from her eyes, "when what can't harm me will kill others?"

"But even a patrol ship is meant for two," Mikumo's own tears flow down his dark cheeks.

"There's the Yukinojo," Mihoshi said simply.

Only because his family has been part of the Galaxy Police for four generations did Mikumo know what his sister's statement meant, "The Yukinojo is a prototype ship."

"We should be together," a thread of self hate in her tone, "It's a sentient of metal just as I am."

Light couldn't move faster than Mikumo and Mihoshi found her brother's face a breath's span from hers as he growled, "Don't let such words pass from your lips," her cheeks felt the drip of her brother's tears, "you are as you were when our parents' love made you," a brotherly kiss upon each of her cheeks, "you are the same as you came from our mother's womb."

Face by such sibling love Mihoshi's self-loathing disappeared in a cloud of affection, to be replaced with an ear-to-ear grin and teasing words, "Mama showing you baby pictures again?"

Mikumo's right hand removed a blue embroidered handkerchief from his pant's pocket and he proceeded to dry his sister's ebony face while saying, "You'd think the thunderous herd of our brothers' children would keep Mama from complaining about my bachelorhood."

"Does not Mama know how much you loved Kiyone," Mihoshi took her brother's handkerchief and started to dry his face, "and you've moaned her loss just as strongly as I do?"

"You know Mama," Mikumo's right-hand stroke his sister's blond hair, "the past cannot be changed, the future cannot be seen, we can only live in the present."

"Mama . . ." Mihoshi's words were stopped by a voice speaking Juraigo, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything intimate?"

Both blond heads instinctively looked to the left and found the voice's source, Seto standing just within sight, which brought a sly rumble from Mikumo in the same tongue, "Only a Juraijin would find this improper and we both know how proper you are, Niji-dono."

Seto's trademark grin sent shivers up and down Mikumo's spin and a wave of giggles from Mihoshi at her brother's discomfort, then grin turned into a tender smile as she walked to the bed while saying, "Mikumo-dono has shown how your kazoku cares for you," at the bed the eldest princess of Jurai knelt down, gathered Mihoshi in her arms and stood up on her long legs, "now it's my turn."

"Aaaa . . . ano . . . my . . ." the look of total surprise on Mihoshi's face suddenly changed to total confusion at Mikumo's chuckles.

Suddenly Mihoshi found her wide eyes no longer held the memory of the past instead she saw her reflection in a fitting room's mirror, holding a lavender bra to her chest. The hard reality that it was way too small for her dark breasts caused the policewoman to let out a heart-rending cry, "OYA, MAA!" Seto was only a few feet from the door examining a saffron nylon teddy set she was thinking of getting for Ayeka's birthday when she heard the shout, instinctively she turned toward the sound's origin and found her birthday suited godchild had bolted from the tiny room, the eldest princess just stood there as Mihoshi came to a dead stop, her baby blues full of tears as she cried, "NONE of them FIT and I LOST all of my own," her lips trembling as her voice filled pain, "even the one Mikumo-chan got me, Kiyone's favorite."

"Dewa . . ." Seto's pause showed she was truly stumped by Mihoshi's predicament since the store's sales clerk picked out a bra and panty sets with the largest cup size, a quick glance by the tall lady showed the young black-haired female clerk was in the same boat as the princess, although the blue-haired lady could tell from the clerk's envious stare that she wished to have Mihoshi's problem.

"Maybe I can be of service?" all three looked to the lingerie store's entrance and found a very tall brown-haired woman standing there, dressed in a cinnamon brown miniskirt trimmed in British red, kneel-high white socks and short-heeled honey brown pumps.

A sideward glance in Mihoshi's direction showed to Seto a newborn hope in her godchild's innocent eyes, so the eldest princess gave an underhanded wave with her right hand to the newcomer. By Seto's mental estimation the girl was probably no more than fourteen yet she had to stoop so her head wouldn't bang the top of the door. The giantess came to within five feet of the threesome before bowing and saying, "Konnichiwa, I'm Kujirakawa Fuyumi."

"Konnichiwa, I'm Kubiha Seto," Seto greeted Fuyumi as all three returned the bow, then Seto's left hand gestured toward Mihoshi, "and this is my nazukego, Kuramitsu Mihoshi."

At the mention of her name, Mihoshi bounced ahead of her godmother, stuck out her right hand and gave a jolly American, "Howdy!"

Fuyumi's face registered surprise by Mihoshi's forwardness before she accepted the panty-clad blonde's handshake. Seto cleared her throat, which drew the ebony lady's, "Ano?"

"Himawari," a calm tone to Seto's voice as she motioned with her ruby eyes at the store's window where several individuals had fogged it up, "why don't you put back on your clothes before this mall's icy air gives you a chill."

"Burr . . ." Mihoshi hugged her chest as she shivered, "Ee, Niji-dono, it sure is cold in here," to Fuyumi it seemed the blond bombshell acted like she didn't catch her godmother's signal, then she noticed as Mihoshi's skipped back to the dressing room, putting a bounce to the ebony lady's breasts and ass, she caught sight of a blush on the dark lady's cheeks.  The big girl looked over her shoulder and found several tongue-hanging-out faces pressed against the glass, blood upon their upper lips.

Even Seto's left fingers over her mouth couldn't hide her feminine laughter from the others while Fuyumi said with amusement, "Kubiha-san, your nazukego seems a little . . ." she paused to search for a diplomatic phase.

"Naïve ne?" Seto supplied with a toothy smile.

"Innocent wa," Fuyumi corrected.

Seto heard the hint of steel in Fuyumi's counter and she asked, "You're sensitive about others' feelings ne?"

"I just understand what it's like to be different," Fuyumi's sigh told of someone who suffered such wounding words.

The sales clerk next to Seto had stood there trying to remember where she had seen Fuyumi then she snapped her fingers, saying, "Ara! Now I know you!" She rushed over to the checkout counter and was back in seconds with a five-by-eight shiki-shi square, then she continued, "you're that junior basketball star from Holy Forest Academy," her black eyes aglow with fan fervor, then she held out the piece of fancy paper book with both hands and head bowed, "Dozo, may I have your autograph."

There was no sign of any falsehood in the grin Fuyumi gave the clerk or in her reply, "Do itashimashite." With polite movement she took the shiki-shi from the clerk's smaller hands and pulled out an old fashion ink pen from her dress pocket. Seto watched the tall girl place her kanji name on the square with precise strokes, like she had done it a thousand times but her stance showed she found only pleasure in doing it, then the blue-haired lady looked at the clerk, whose eyes never left Fuyumi.

The black-eyed girl returned the autographed shiki-shi to the clerk, who accepted it like it was the Holy Grail and bowed once more before saying, "Domo arigato gozaimasu!"

Seto moved over to get a better look at the shiki-shi and found not only a name signed in kanji but also a stick figure posed to shoot a large ball with both hands, the rapture on the clerk's upturned face told Seto that today was bright day for the young woman. Once more Seto faced Fuyumi, who sweetly smile hadn't changed, and she said, "Fuyumi-san, you like to make people happy ne?"

"Hai," Fuyumi gave a nod, "there's enough tears in the world."

Seto opened her mouth to say more but stopped when she saw Fuyumi's eyes locked on something behind her then she heard Mihoshi say, "I'm ready."

Seto asked, "Fuyumi-san, you said you could help Himawari," the princess glanced at her bouncy godchild.

"U . . . Un," Fuyumi blinked her eyes before continuing her reply, "Like Kuramitsu-san, I have a need for a bra with a large cup size," she placed her right hand upon her expansive chest, "so I go to a costume designer here in Kurashiki."

"But why come all the way from Tokyo?" wide-eyed wonder in the clerk's face.

"The costume designer is an old friend of my okasan," an amused expression on Fuyumi's face at the clerk's hero worship, "she did the same thing for my okasan when they were going to school together."

"I'm glad you can help us, Fuyumi-san," no gall in Seto's words.

"Then let's be off, Kubiha-san . . ." Fuyumi's hesitated for a second before saying, "Mihoshi-san."

"Oke!" Happy energy in Mihoshi's word as the blonde dashed from Seto's side, grabbed Fuyumi's right hand with her left, spun the surprised bigger woman around and like a bright hairy comet the two were out the door. At first Fuyumi couldn't believe anyone of Mihoshi's size had the strength to make her feet speedy but then her spirit was infected by the ebony woman joy, which called over her shoulder to her godmother, "Catch us if you can wa yo!"

"Shitei," a dimpled grin on Seto's face as she slowly shook her head before she calmly walked out the store.

*******

Train to Tokyo

Ayeka was glad when she and Ohiten found seats after they transferred trains in Okayama and once seated, it gave her the opportunity to carefully observe her new bodyguard, the golden girl was on the princess' right side, closest to the passenger car's door. During the fifteen-minute trip from Kurashiki the princess was too caught up in the emotions caused by the encounter with the pervert to be anything but grateful for the young girl's intervention and to feel twice blessed that the fiery-haired youth was going to be her guide and new protector. With the white coat and sunglasses being the first thing to catch your eye the next thing was the girl's long red hair. Unlike the dyed hair found on young Nihonjin women, Ohiten's hair had a rich depth to its color and at times Ayeka noticed how the reflected sunlight from the passenger car's windows made it look like a live flame. The second feature Ayeka thought about was the gold hue of the girl's skin for there was an almost metallic gloss to it. Lastly the white irises of the young lady's eyes did make the Juraijin suspicious because her tutors always told her that a person with colorless irises was blind, yet it was clear each time the purple-haired lady peeked the girl's roving gaze showed that Ohiten could see.

"Dewa, have you decided I'm not a member of Plan Nine from Outer Space," Ohiten's voice full of mischief.

Ayeka covered her surprise at being caught with a nervous laugh into her right hand before saying, "That movie totally mystified me and I'm sure the fault lie in the distributor's poor translation."

Ohiten's closed mouth giggles relaxed Ayeka, which allowed the princess to shift gears, "Rogers-san, once more I like to say how much you have earned my gratitude."

"Daddy said if the sawari-wa weren't such a plague," a smile on Ohiten's slightly parted lips, "a bishojo might find a grope a compliment."

"Like a hanaji (nosebleed)?" a blush accented Ayeka's words because it was Tenchi's nosebleed caused by her nude body she was remembering, then she frowned when she remembered who had caused the event at the onsen. At this point the princess noticed her companion had unbuttoned her coat and she was surprised at what was the opening revealed, a girl's sailor fuku.

"Tadshii," Ohiten's saw all three of Ayeka's reaction and so she commented on the last one first, "The sailor fuku is part of my disguise," the redhead used her hands and pulled the coat open more so Ayeka's purple sight could see more of the uniform, a white blouse with a red bow on the chest as well as a dark-blue knee-length skirt and a dark-blue sailor top with red piping, "because of my appearance people will think I'm your yankee imotosan (juvenile delinquent younger sister), sent with you by our parents to keep me out of trouble," a foxy grin on her lips, "I even made sure the fuku matched a school in Tokyo, Azabu Juuban Junior High."

Ayeka's face showed she liked the idea a lot, it had the elements of intrigue and playacting of her mothers' plots and she always enjoyed watching them. Now here was Ayeka's chance to do something like it but on a smaller scale and her voice had conspirator's tone, "We are going to need to practice being sisters to pull it off."

"Ne ne! We've got plenty of time," Ohiten was bouncing in her seat with excitement over Ayeka's acceptance, "it's going to take another three hours before we reach Tokyo."

"That should give us enough time to get the basics down pat," Ayeka's ruby eyes glowed with glee, then she asked, "where should we start?"

"How about nikkunemu?" Ohiten eyes had the same glee, "like the kind siblings have for each other."

"Oi," Ayeka suddenly realized how this plan could make her relationship with Ohiten more intimate.

"Don't you have a nikkunemu?" the sight of Ayeka's reaction brought Ohiten out of her happy groove.

Ayeka hesitated for a second but then her temper flared and she squared her shoulders while saying, "My sister calls me oneesama while my mothers ca . . . calls me . . ." her courage vanished into embarrassment.

"Nani?" Ohiten's tone was loaded with fun-loving tease as her nose almost touched Ayeka's.

"Oujo-chan," Ayeka barely let the words pass her lips.

"Suki wa (I love it!)!" Ohiten's positive response caused a purple head to pop up and the princess stared into a pair of pearly eyes as her companion added, "It's a wonderful nikkunemu ne!"

"Hai," courage was back in Ayeka's heart and her back became arrow straight as she repeated, "Hai!"

Ohiten gave an enthusiastic nod at Ayeka's prideful tone then asked, "So what should we call each other?"

Not knowing the answer Ayeka countered, "What is your nikkunemu?"

Now it was Ohiten turn to look chagrin, "Mama had so many children that she could barely remember our real names and Daddy . . ." a teary tone choked her words, "wasn't . . . home."

Ayeka didn't need to be a mind reader to know she had touched a wound in Ohiten's young heart, without a second thought the princess' right hand took hold of Ohiten's left hand while saying, "But you know he loves you."

"Un!" Sad clouds were replaced by happy sunshine in Ohiten's features, "Now I do!"

"Gu," Ayeka smiled warmly before becoming serious once more, "So what do you suggest?"

Ohiten paused then Ayeka saw the girl brightened and the youngster said, "Masaki-san, how about Grace for you?"

"Grace?" Ayeka's tone showed she recognized the word as English but was suspicious since she didn't know what the word meant and had noticed Sasami was picking up English words that might be inappropriate for a Juraijin princess to use.

"Like in the rhyme," Ohiten brimmed with hope, "Suiyobiko de ippai yugasa," then she repeated it in English, "Wednesday's Child is full of grace."

Ayeka silently mouthed the words of the rhyme before saying, "Grace?"

"Yugasa," affirmed Ohiten.

"Grace is acceptable," Ayeka's approval came with a smile.

"Yappi!" Ohiten clapped her hands at her success.

"Now it's my turn to give you one," Ayeka's teasing tone made Ohiten's grin bigger and the golden girl sat up straight in her seat while waiting for the princess pronouncement. After a proper amount of time for Ayeka to enjoy the suspense, the princess said, "How about Suzuri (Inkstone)?"

The look on Ohiten's face showed she was rolling the name in her mind before saying, "It fits," then she smirked, "it shows a oneesama attitude about her imotosan's outrageous appearance."

Ayeka's eyes went wide at the statement and she examined her new nickname before saying, "Mine shows how much imotosan cares for her oneesama," then a small smile appeared on her lips, "it's a foundation for our relationship ne?"

"Hai, Grace," Ohiten grinned then added, "so what's next."

"How about our height difference?" Ayeka suggested.

"Mama saved all the big genes for me wa yo!" Ohiten ended the sentence with giggling laughter that Ayeka joined in with her own. For the next three hours the two plotted out their plan with plenty of laughs and smiles.

********

Soja

The door to the bioengineer lab slid open for Washu and the soft illumination banished away the darkness while the little scientist went directly to the control center of the huge machine that dominated the room. A touch of a button on the control board brought an image on the monitor, a nude body of a five-year-old boy floating in a green fluid, then she touched another button before saying, "Let's see if five years of work have proven my genius."

The monitor showed the bottom of the oval chamber holding the boy spinning open and the fluid carried the child down through the opening. Another touch of a button by Washu shifted the monitor's image to show the child's body entering a four-foot long oblong chamber and the fluid drained away which allowed the youth to settle down on a heavy air mattress. Washu picked up a tiny speaker with her left hand as her right hand touched a button before she spoke, "Kagato-chan, you're going to need to start breathing, you don't have the life support fluid anymore."

At first nothing happened and Washu shouted through her mind link, 'BREATH!'

The boy's chest expanded with his first breath and he didn't let the lung full of air go to waste, "I just wanted to know how much you cared for me, Washu-okasan."

Every time Kagato called her mama, memories of her own child and of Seto caused her heat to beat faster yet she only grinned while her hands danced across the control board, her lips saying, "Kagato-chan, I see you developed a sense of humor ne?"

"A sharp wit to swiftly disarm opponents," the chamber containing Kagato was slowly rolled forward by the machine's metal arms and wheels, "the data you filled my head with has made it plain how uncaring the universe is."

Washu walked away from the control board but her words continue to reach Kagato through their mind link, 'I care for nothing in this universe,' the redhead stopped at place where the wheeled chamber ceased to move, 'it took everything from me,' then the chamber settled onto the floor, 'but by my genius I shall create my own universe,' her little right hand pulled open a metal cover to reach the chamber's release buttons and with a quick series of typing the top the container cracked open with a hiss and glided down.

Washu just stared down at the child she created, her blood thundering in her head and her fear of loss blackening her mind that it wasn't until she felt something touch her cheek that she realized that Kagato's right hand was next to her face, then she saw great compassion in the boy's red eyes as he brought his hand to his own face and smelled the salty odor of Washu's tears, his next words banished all negativity from her being, "I should feel love when my eyes first see your face but I feel anger, I should feel happiness when I touch your cheek but I feel sorrow because I know your tears are not for joy."

Immediately Washu leaned over the chamber and tenderly patted Kagato's wet white hair as her emerald eyes brightly burned with the same passion as her words, "what happened to me doesn't matter anymore as long as I have you beside me," then she kissed him lightly on the lips before adding, "you are the first star in my universe."

Kagato felt the raw emotions behind Washu's words and his hands cupped Washu's tear stained face and he said, "Washu-otousan, I shall never leave you."

The image of the past gone long ago disappeared from Washu's mind to be replaced with the crystal clear reality of the present and Washu once more found the only comfort she had was from silently watching Ryoko's and Katsuhito's interaction with the people of Earth, both made possible by Ryoko's Gems. The little scientist found amusement and wonder at how quickly her daughter had formed strong bonds with each member of the Masaki family and the developing friendships between her and Fox Mulder to a point where she would risk her life and sanity to help them. Now Seto, her daughter in everything but a name was here, and the Juraijin goddess, Tsunami, had followed her bondmate to this little blue marble. Would all of them oppose Kagato, would all of them fail and would all of them would die was the great fear that swam in the darkness part of her soul. Washu also knew there were other factors yet to make themselves known that could give them a chance against Kagato. The bondmate of Tsunami, Sasami, was just a factor but could her lack of experience be a weakness, she was only seven hundred years old, yet she had Tsunami at her side. Tenchi was another factor Washu wondered about, a youth of seventeen years that could activate the Master Key, Tenchiken. The little redhead's estimate of Mihoshi's worth increased because of her attempt to arrest the cat burglar yet could a normal person, even one with a luck genius, be a key to unlock the door. Washu was very sure Fox Mulder and Dana Scully roles were more to prepare the others for the battle than participates yet she wasn't sure if another person was fated for the same role, Anthony MacClean. Thanks to her knowledge of both Yosho's and Ryoko's experiences, the redhead was able to piece together who MacClean was, his disguises didn't hide his true self to her scientific mind and she burned with frustration at not getting the Earthling onto a lab table yet there was something else to the blond-haired man. Tsunami had stopped Washu from following her when the goddess entered her children's group mind to stop an intruder but she saw by her daughter's sight the Washu look-a-like had touched one of Funaho-Ki's roots before Ryoko's flashback had whipsawed Washu's own soul.

'We shall see what moonbeams and fairy dust it took to create you, MacClean-san.'

********

Masaki Residence

"Ryoko-neechan, I don't need you to help me wash the dishes," a glint of slyness in Sasami's eyes at the bored expression on Ryoko's face as the uchu kaizoku placed the last dirty dish from this morning breakfast into the sudsy dishwater, an expression copied by the cabbit perched on top of Ryoko's head.

"Oke!" Ryoko's eyes brightened but then a frown touched her lips, "are you sure?"

"Ee," Sasami turned on the cute innocence when she said, "why don't you go do one of your chores ne?"

Ryoko's frown turned ugly which pushed Sasami's giggle button, which in turn brought a wounded pride expression to the cyan-haired lady just before she faded away, then the littlest princess noticed her giggles echoed in her mind so she thought, 'Ohayo, Tsunami-neechan.'

'Ohayo, Sasami,' Tsunami's presence emerged from quiet observation and wrapped around Sasami's soul like a warm blanket.

The thread of shame Sasami felt in Tsunami's greeting brought out her concern, 'Doka shimashita ka?'

'Gomen nasai, Sasami,' the littlest princess could taste the bitterness of Tsunami's feelings, 'I never wanted you to see me like that.'

'It's oke,' Sasami realized that Tsunami was apologizing for her uncontrolled rage during the goddess' confrontation with Otaiyo, 'I know how much you care for your shitei.'

'It wasn't just their safety I feared for,' tenderness in the blue-haired goddess' voice, 'and Otaiyo-dono was correct, I was afraid of his newness.'

'Naze ne?' Sasami was surprised by Tsunami's statement.

'Remember when you asked me if MacClean-san was like you ne?' reminded Tsunami.

'Hai,' then Sasami's pink eyes got really big, 'you mean MacClean-san is . . .' Sasami's mind became confused as she tried to find the right words to say.

'By some design,' Sasami heard awe in her companion's tone, 'this world has become a birthplace for a being much like you.'

Sasami's bewilderment instantly cleared and she asked, 'Is that why MacClean-san was able to talk to your shitei,' then disapproval touched her thoughts, 'and they hurt him?'

'It's my shame and not theirs,' Sasami once more felt Tsunami's remorse, 'but they now know he wasn't responsible for their kin's death.'

All at once a revelation shook Sasami's mind and she immediately put words to it, 'Is MacClean my kin?'

'In a way,' Tsunami's tone showed great consideration for Sasami, 'as I gave life to my shitei and I gave you life once more, a part of MacClean-san's life force did come from me.'

Sasami's soul went all rosy and she sighed, "I have another oniisama."

"And who would that be?" an elderly voice near her right ear asked.

"Oi!" Sasami jumped a good inch off the floor before she realized it was Tenchi's grandfather who had asked the question, then her pink amethyst orbs brought her more surprise when she saw that all the dishes and chopsticks were washed and drying in the dish rack, but before the littlest princess could do more than stare-up at the Shinto priest, a shouted, "KYA!" vibrated throughout the house.

With the twins, concern and curiosity, Sasami and Katsuhito ran out of the kitchen and into the room where a string of expletives was coming from. Both came to a full stop where the blue-haired princess' mouth hanged open before breaking down into unstoppable giggles that caused her to lean against the doorframe while the gray-haired priest stood with a thin smile upon his tanned face. What they found was a soggy Ryoko climbing out of the washing machine with a dizzy Ryo-ohki amongst Ryoko's wet stringy hair. When Ryoko heard Sasami's laughter and turned to find an amused audience, she nonchalantly said, "The device was making some strange noises."

"Was that before or after you poked your head in?" teased Katsuhito as he entered the room, opened a drawer, pulled out a clean towel and offered it to the dripping uchu kaizoku.

Ryoko's amber eyes burned once more with wounded pride as she grabbed the yellow cloth out of the elder's right hand, saying, "What did you expect, this is my first try at washing the clothes."

"At least you don't have to go down to a river, strip down to your waist," a foxy look in Katsuhito's old eyes, "and beat them against a large rock."

"I rather beat them against Ayeka-san," then a lustful gleam entered Ryoko's eyes as she used the towel to dry her cyan hair and Ryo-ohki, "although the stripped down part do have possibilities," the images of Tenchi seeing her doing the laundry that way made her lick her lips.

"Hav . . . haven't you watched me wash the clothes before ne?" Sasami finally gained control over her funny bone.

"And allow your oneesama another chance to slight me like she did when I helped you to look for her and Tenchi after the rainstorm," Ryoko gave Katsuhito a hard look as her clothes disappeared and she proceeded to dry her nude body, the priest continued to look at her like he had seen her nude a thousand times which triggered a half-smile on the ample lady's face.

"But the television showed people washing clothes," Sasami's curiosity was now in full swing.

"You know me, imoto," Ryoko handed the damp towel back to Katsuhito, who accepted it, "unless it has smooches or gunplay," then Ryoko's Gem alit with whitish-blue light while her body took on a reddish hue, "I tune it out." Ryo-ohki sighed at the heat from her companion's body dried out her fur.

"Then why did you . . ." Sasami broke off her words when she realized why Ryoko had done it, her friend knew about Sasami's fainting.

Ryoko didn't miss the strong affectionate look on Sasami's face, "Sora (Hey!)! I only did it to keep Ayeka-san's mouth from being noisy," Ryoko's skin returned to its healthy pink tone then it was clothed in a tight yellow-orange-and-black stripped catsuit.

"If your skill is the equal to your determination," Katsuhito's nodded his approval of Ryoko's new duds, "I believe we will have only successes to report to Tenchi and Ayeka-san."

Ryoko's eyes narrowed at the left-handed praise suggested in the priest's words and she countered, "I'll make sure you're not disappointed."

"I have faith that your heart will guide you," Katsuhito's face showed satisfaction in Ryoko's answer, then he turned to Sasami and asked, "I was wondering if you two would like to come up to the jinja for some ocha?"

Ryoko and Sasami looked at each other and shared a nod before Sasami turned back to Katsuhito, "Ee, I'll bring some food for us."

"Miya!" a positivity in Ryo-ohki's statement.

"Come as soon as you've finished your chores," Ryoko rolled her eyes at Katsuhito's return while Sasami giggled with her left finger tips touching her little lips, but what more would have been said was interrupted by the front door's doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it!" Ryoko leaped into the air, faded from Sasami's and Katsuhito's sight, only to appear at the front door where she opened the door while saying, "Konnichiwa."

"YONMEONI (FOUR-EYED DEMON)!" this was the last word that either Ryo-ohki or Ryoko heard as both their minds exploded into darkness.

The shout brought Sasami and Katsuhito running and they found Ryoko and Ryo-ohki out cold on the genken with a young girl of thirteen summers standing over them with a fancy croquet mallet in her hands, readied to deliver another blow.

"Ryo-chan! Ryoko-neechan!" Sasami knelt next her friends with her right hand touching the twin knots on Ryoko's and Ryo-ohki's head, Katsuhito crossed his arms and gave the young newcomer a disapproving look.

The girl with black hair, brown eyes and three blue markings on her Scandinavian face looked at the distressed princess then at the displeased Shinto priest then at her handiwork before saying with an edge of panic in her voice, "She's Ryokoakurei ne?"

"Ryoko-neechan isn't going to be happy when she wakes up," relief in Sasami's tone as patted Ryo-ohki's soft fur and Ryoko's silky hair, Katsuhito nodded his agreement.

********

Musoka Karaoke, Kurashiki

"What the Hell!" Ryoko shut her eyes and shook her head when nothing but static came over her link with Ryo-ohki and her twin, then the ample lady thumped the right side of her head with the bottom of her palm.

"Did a screw come loose?" Mulder grinned in his foxy way as he opened the right door of the backseat, the police car had arrived in front of the building where the murder had occurred, Musoka Karaoke.

"Just checking to see if I still had all my marbles," to the driver, Aoi Futaba, Ryoko's grace made it look she floated out the opened door, then the lady-in-pink continued, "I was wondering if you lose any when you become a flatfoot."

"I'll be back after I've parked the car," Aoi craned her neck down to make eye contact with the Mulder and Ryoko through the opened backdoor.

"We'll be inside," Mulder closed the door and Aoi drove away then Mulder turned to his junior partner and said with sly delight, "Did you bring a notepad?"

"Funny man," Ryoko flipped open a make-believe notepad with her left hand while holding a make-believe pen in her right, then she asked, "so how many times did your mother drop you on your head?"

"Ouch," Mulder said as he lifted up the yellow ribbon that sealed off the crime scene so Ryoko could duck under, "I think I better stop while I'm behind."

"Now you're showing some horse sense," Ryoko grinned playfully as she and Mulder showed their badges to the blue-uniformed officer, he nodded and told them, "Shigeru-san is in room thirteen."

As Ryoko and Mulder made their way between coroner technicians and police officers, they both noted that there seemed to be very little visible fire damage to the structure, unlike the brothel, the North-Forty Ranch. When they neared their destination, Shigeru stepped through the room's entrance and turned in their direction, where his eyes brightened at recognizing Mulder and Ryoko and a strong smile upon his lips at the lady's pink attire, thus he said in English, "Under different conditions I would say it's nice to see both of you," he shook their hands, "but it looks like your female arsonist was responsible."

"You mean someone witnessed the murder," Mulder's words were meant as a statement.

"No," Shigeru said as he motioned for the two to follow him to another room, "but a man did witness a nude woman climbing out of room thirteen's window, run pass him and then he smelled smoke coming from the same room," the fire chief turned and led them into the room he just left as he handed Mulder a plain folder, "the witness has given his disposition and we collected some evidence from the room."

On a table in the room were plastic bags containing various pieces of evidence but it was a large bag containing a girl's school uniform that caught Mulder's eye and he picked it up, the sight of Mulder's action brought a comment from Shigeru, "the counterman reported to Michiyuki that the victim came in with a young woman dressed in those clothes."

"I'm here!" a winded Michiyuki came into the room with Aoi right behind him, he took a minute to compose himself before saying, "I've got some bad news for you, Mulder."

"It's about Sunao Mogami," Michiyuki's surprised look made Mulder continued, "Officer Futaba mentioned you went to the hospital."

Michiyuki nodded at Mulder's explanation then he said, "Last night Mogami Sunao apparently commented suicide," everyone there heard a sad gasp from Aoi but only Mulder noticed a hardened look in Ryoko's eyes, "he used a pillow to muffle any sound as he put a gun in his mouth."

"This will make your investigation harder, Michiyuki," a thoughtful look on Shigeru's face.

"What do you mean?" Mulder asked.

"He means Mogami's Yakuza clan will now be out for blood," Ryoko harshly stated.

"Weren't they before?" puzzled Mulder as he continued to hold the bag with the school fuku in it.

"Before they wouldn't mind if we arrest the killer," Ryoko's anger was plain in her tone, "now they won't accept anything less than the killer's death."

"An eye for an eye," Mulder looked down at the fuku, "do you think the counterman and our witness can give us an accurate description of our killer?"

"The counterman was bored and only noticed her hair," Michiyuki held up a plastic bag with a brown ponytail wig in it.

"And our back alley witness?" Mulder frowned as he started to put two-and-two together, and then noticed that Ryoko was looking at the fuku and then at the brown wig.

"Nakayama Mitsutoshi didn't really get a good look," Michiyuki picked up a green folder from the table, "because he was scared for his life."

"Why?" Mulder asked as Michiyuki gave him the folder, it was labeled in English: Scully's corner report.

"She glowed like a white-hot poker," Michiyuki's statement produced a calculating look on Mulder's face.

"Hey! I've seen this school uniform and wig together," Ryoko's outburst drew everyone's attention, "they're from that new animation series."

"Which one?" Mulder's tone and look showed he was adding things together.

"Pretty Soldier Sailormoon," Ryoko replied her eyes quickly scanned the table for any more clues.

"It looks like someone disguised herself to look like Sailor Jupiter," Michiyuki grinned at Aoi's statement, who added with a blush, "It's a very romantic series, I like it."

For a moment Mulder was confused by Michiyuki's response to Aoi liking an animation series meant for young girls but then he noticed the secretive smile on Ryoko's face, so he thought, 'Something is going on with Futaba that Michiyuki knows about and Ryoko knows it too.'

"Maybe Ryoko can use her psychic abilities to discover any more clues," Michiyuki suggested with admiration.

Aoi's eyes grew wide at Michiyuki's words and Ryoko grinned at the policewoman's reaction before saying, "I think I'll come up with a few more pieces of the puzzle."

Mulder smiled at Ryoko's quick thinking as his pink lady led them from this room to the entrance of the other room, in-between the rooms, Michiyuki asked Mulder, "I'm curious, where is Scully?"

"The Funao Toxic Spill," Mulder used the name the media was calling the accident, "because of her medical training, Scully was put in charge of the emergency response team."

Michiyuki saw the worry on Mulder's face and so he used a reassured tone, "I believe she will be fine."

"I hope so too," Mulder replied but then his pale green eyes flashed with anger, "but sometimes something comes along and cuts you off at your knees," both Michiyuki and Shigeru could tell that the American was speaking from experience.

At the room's entrance Ryoko stopped, let out a relaxing sigh as she closed her eyes and placed her left wrist against her chest, Mulder's worry about Scully didn't stop him from smiling at the ample woman's opening act, he knew full well that she used this performance to hide the bluish-white glow coming from the Gem on her left wrist and the American's smile became a grin when he saw how big Aoi's eyes got. Ryoko stepped over the threshold and everyone there notice how nebulous her footfalls were, then she knelt just a few feet in and her right hand reached out and waved over a chalk drawing of a body, her words had a distant quality to them, "here a boyish man sought only spring's flowers, instead his brain was boiled into broth."

Instantly Aoi face became different shades of green while Michiyuki said in a matter-in-fact tone, "The coroner told me that the body had four burn marks on it, two just under the shoulder blades and two on each side of the face, from the upper cheekbone down to underneath the jaw."

"Like someone held him down on the ground and used their hands to keep him from screaming for help," Shigeru suggested.

"He was also still clothed when she killed him," Michiyuki added as Ryoko stood up and walked to the middle of the room.

"She wasn't," Ryoko's words had a dreamy tone as she crouched down once more and waved her over the carpet, "it was here she dropped her disguise."

"It's interesting that this room wasn't as badly burned as the other one," Mulder observed as he stepped around Shigeru and stood on the charred part of the carpet.

"The witness used a garden hose to keep the fire under control before we arrived," Shigeru informed them with an approving tone, "I'm thinking of giving him a medal for his quick thinking."

"She only wanted his death," Ryoko replied then her body wavered and gravity started to do its trick.

With forethought Mulder was able to reach Ryoko before she collapsed on the floor and Michiyuki cried out, "You're alright?"

"Yeah," Mulder could see the mischief in Ryoko's amber eyes but there was seriousness there too as she continued her words, "she took no pleasure in her handiwork, I felt her sorrow."

Michiyuki eyes were wide with enlightenment, "the witness said the same thing," everyone looked at him, "Nakayama told me she looked like she was crying."

At this point everything clicked in Mulder's mind and he spoke out as he helped Ryoko to stand, "She is choosing her victim not because they are male."

"No," Michiyuki nodded, "her victims did something to her."

"She's evening the score," Ryoko's voice showed an understanding for the killer.

"Evening the score?" Aoi asked as she looked at Ryoko.

"There must be a connection between the victims," Mulder speculated, "maybe it will help us to stop her from killing again."

"I'll get on it right now," zeal flashed in Michiyuki's eyes before he left the room while Shigeru in the police officer's wake.

Aoi walked up and asked politely, "Where now?"

"Let's talk to the witness," Mulder told the officer, unaware of the amused looks shared by the two ladies at how he protectively held Ryoko.

"I can take you to where he works," suggested Aoi.

"Lead the way," Mulder commanded, at this point he awoke to his present situation, especially with those glittering amber cat eyes looking up at him, at this moment Aoi decided to give them some privacy and walked out of the room. It took a moment for Mulder to loosen his hold on Ryoko's slim waist while saying, "I seem to apologize to you all the time."

Ryoko heard the sad pain in Mulder's voice, like she had heard so many weeks ago, and she made a decision, for better or for worse she turned to face the American, kissed the tips of her right hand's index and forefinger before saying, "I love Tenchi with all my heart, with all my soul," then she reached up and pressed the fingers against Mulder's lips before adding, "but that doesn't mean I don't like you holding me."

Mulder smiled and as his two fingers touched Ryoko's lips, he asked, "Does that mean I get to bring you home on the weekends?"

"OH MY!" Ryoko used a theatrical voice as she tweaked Mulder's nose, "Is that a gun you're packing or are you just excited to see me?"

Mulder's lopsided smile showed he got Ryoko's don't-push-it-buster message, Ryoko smirked at the faces of the police officers and firemen that stood just outside the room's entrance as the two went by them to join Aoi, whose very bright blush showed she had heard Ryoko's statement.

********

Isolation Ward, Funao Hospital, Funao

Scully's face was a mask of neutrality but her emerald eyes shined with pity at the sight beyond the glass partition, the people tied down onto beds, their lungs poured out animalistic shouts, and their eyes full of madness. In a horrified voice she asked the white-cloaked doctor next to her, "Fuke-isha, is there nothing we can do to save them?"

"Mo, Scully-san," a helpless tone in the young man's voice, "the Kat scan showed their brains' frontal lobs suffered catastrophic damage," he looked down at his hands, "it's better to sedate them and allow nature to run its course."

"What areas of the frontal lobs?" Scully couldn't take her sight from the tragedy before her.

"Those areas where memory and upper personality traits come from," Fuke was trying very hard to keep tears out of his voice.

"In other words where the soul resides in each of us," Scully concluded as she finally turned away from the ghastly view and walked towards the exit door.

"To some degree," a haunted look in Fuke's dark eyes under shaggy black eyebrows as he joined her, "as you know, Scully-san, a person's personality comes from two areas in the brain."

"The core or reptilian brain," Scully kicked in automatically as the pair entered the hallway where doctors and nurses rushed pass them, "where lust, anger, hunger, fear and indifference come from."

"And the area in the frontal lob where love, patience, sacrifice, trust and caring come from," the two stopped at the isolation ward control station where he motioned for the head nurse to join them.

"With both fused by the brain's memory of that person's experiences," Scully felt there was something important just beyond this medical dialogue but she was having trouble finding it.

"Hai, Fuke-isha?" asked the head nurse of forty years.

Fuke picked up a clipboard budging with papers, paged through several before pulling out one and signing it before he gave it to her, "Keep the patients in a sedated sleep and don't feed them," he looked at Scully, who nodded her agreement.

Even with all her experience, the head nurse's black eyes reflex the pain her and Scully heard in the doctor's voice, she calmly replied, "Hai, sensei."

The young doctor with a day's growth of fuzz on his chin returned his attention to Scully where he picked up their conversation, "You could say, Scully-san, that within our brain resides an akurei (demon) and a tenshi (angel), each in the riggings necessary to pull the cart carrying the human soul."

"With that person's memories as the driver," then insight filled Scully's eyes and she asked, "but if the driver is crippled and the tenshi dead?"

"Then the akurei runs wild," Fuke's tone was deadly serious.

An urgent feeling poured into Scully's spirit and she said, "I must be going," then she bowed to the doctor, "Sayonara, Fuke-isha."

Fuke returned the bow before saying, "Okarada wo taisetsu ni, Scully-san (Take care of your body, Scully-san)."

As she walked down the hall Scully took out her cell phone and pressed in a set of numbers, a moment later an English-speaking voice answered, "Sugoru here."

"I want you to check to see if the military was transporting any biochemical weapons," Scully's voice crackled with restrained anger.

"That bad," Sugoru's tone showed his worst fears had come true.

"What we have here is something that can turn any human being into a creature," a hard edge to each of Scully's words, "that will find pleasure in pain, will murder without inhibitions."

"You think the military might have its hand in this accident?" Sugoru asked.

"It's possible," Scully came out of the isolation ward and was joined by her assistants, "but I'm hoping my next destination will give me the information I need to make a clear-cut decision."

"Where would that be?" Sugoru's tone showed he had a hunch as to where Scully was going.

"The city morgue," Scully answered as she walked out of the hospital and climbed into the back of a white van.

********

Masaki Residence

"Gomen gomen gomen gomen," each of the teenager's sorry was matched with her jet black-haired head touching the ground before Ryoko's feet, where a concerned Sasami held a tiny ice pack against a huge bump on Ryo-ohki's head, who was amongst her sister's spiky hair, already the cabbit wondered if she should ask for combat pay. Katsuhito stood behind the couch where Ryoko sat, his face a mask of sternness while an amused twinkle was in his red eyes; the priest was also fascinated by the blue markings upon the girl's forehead and cheeks.

"Now that I've acted like a grasshopper, can I get up?" a whinny tone in the girl's question and she gave Ryoko an unrepented look.

"Your name's Skuld ne?" the girl in the blue-white hiking boots nodded her head to Ryoko's question, her brown eyes full of pride, then Ryoko held out her left hand before saying, "Give me the mallet."

"Its MINE!" selfishness in Skuld's shout as her right hand reached for the croquet mallet that lay next to her.

"Hand it over," Ryoko's tone and glowing amber eyes showed she broke no childish temper tamper. The link provided by Ryo-ohki for the two Ryokos was back in operation once the cabbit and the uchu kazoku regained consciousness but both had mallet-sized headaches.

Skuld quickly calculated her chances of getting away with her favorite weapon and her spirit sank as she realized, 'one unrestricted first class demon plus one restricted first class demon equaled a snowball chance in Hell,' with a crushed look on her face she picked up the mallet and held it out with both hands to the ample woman.

Ryoko milked the scene for all its worth by leisurely taking the mallet by its handle with her left hand and checked the weapon's heft by flexing her left waist to smack its head into her right palm, "Subarashii!" the uchu kaizoku cheerfully declared, "did you make it?" Skuld nodded her head, her teenager's face looked like she lost her best friend, at this moment Katsuhito cleared his throat. A sideward glare by the amber-eyed woman showed the gray-haired man thought she had enough fun with the girl, but then Ryoko noticed something was unusual, Sasami was as quiet as a stone. Ryoko used the a few swings of the mallet to cover her quick glance at the little one, what she found brought disquiet to her spirit, Sasami was watching Skuld with a troubled look. 

'Sasami is frightened of the brat,' with this understanding Ryoko reached out towards the kneeling girl with her senses, 'her aura is very powerful but she doesn't have her tenshi,' then something clicked in the ample woman's mind, 'Sasami knows this,' then gloominess touched her spirit, 'and she's afraid the girl will try something and I'll hurt her.'

Skuld was too caught up with her own selfishness and Katsuhito was behind Ryoko but Ryo-ohki felt her sister's misery, "Miya?"

Ryo-ohki's concern caught Sasami's attention and she asked, "Ryo-chan?"

"Hai, it's a masterpiece!" Ryoko hid behind a mask of devilish glee as she held the mallet out with her left hand, and then with a twisted downward motion of her left wrist there came a loud hollow wallop.

"Ouch!" cried Skuld as both of her hands kept her forehead from touching the bamboo mat, when her throbbing pain lessens the teen looked up at Ryoko with hateful eyes only to find the mallet's butt almost touching her little nose, her eyes shifted to the blue-haired child and the gray-haired elder where she found surprise and satisfaction on their faces.

"Now we're even," Ryoko told Skuld as the girl gingerly took back her weapon.

Skuld's kneels were anchored to the ground as her brown eyes stared at the trio, 'akurei aren't nice,' her thoughts mystified, 'akurei don't make people happy.'

Sasami watched what had happened between Ryoko and Skuld with dread because she feared the goddess of the future could sense that she was a creation of Tsunami and she feared the teenager would reveal her secret, but then Ryoko's act caused the little one to grin in surprise, broke that fearful doubt from her heart so it could be replaced with brave trust. With a renewed pluck Sasami placed the ice pack on the sofa's armrest, walked over to the dumbfounded youth and held out her hands with palms up, saying, "we are going to drink some ocha," tenderness filled her big eyes, "Please join us."

Skuld's brown eyes looked over Sasami's hands and stared deeply into the little princess' pink-quartz eyes, with all negative emotions clear from her mind for the first time since her arrival, the teenage goddess saw the same gentle care she found in her own sister's gray eyes, then for a second the key upon the blue-haired child's forehead flickered and the black-haired girl's eyelids fluttered as she felt a sensation like velvety wings enclosed her spirit followed by soundless words, 'Konnichiwa, Skuld-chan.' Delight appeared on Skuld face and she opened her mouth but a soundless, 'Shhh,' stopped the teen's words.

"Skuld-san, I'm interested as to how you knew of Ryoko-dono's being a special person?" curiosity laced Katsuhito's words, he could tell that Sasami was uncomfortable with Skuld and he wanted to find out why.

"Urd-neechan told me that Ryokoakurei had awaken," Skuld gave a quick glare at Ryoko, "and I was concern because Belldandy-oneechan went to a nearby onsen," jealous anger made her young face hard because her oldest sister had only spilled the beans last night, "with . . ." the thirteen-year-old suddenly stopped her reply as she didn't want to stain Belldandy's honor.

"So your sister can sense these things?" the names Urd and Skuld had a Northern European quality to them by Katsuhito's judgment but the third name, Belldandy, seemed an English corruption of a much more ancient name, Anadandi.

"Not really," Skuld made a face to show her contempt at her sister's spellcraft, "actually Urd-neechan used a skalding potion," then an angry look filled her face when she remembered why Urd was using the potion, "when she spotted the akurei flying about."

'Maybe I didn't hit her head hard enough,' Ryoko thought, she didn't like Skuld calling her an akurei.

This last bit of information along with Skuld's Scandinavian features and her facial markings, made it clear to Katsuhito what Urd's and Skuld's professions are, although in the priest's opinion the teenager couldn't be more than an acolyte, so he asked, "So you and your sister are practitioners of the Nordic shamanism?"

"Ee," relief in Skuld's answer, the brown-eyed girl was glad her answers to the priest's questions had shielded her true nature, then she slipped her mallet into its sheaf on her back before she lit Sasami help her up, while the teenager held the little one's hands she said, "Hai, Sasami-kun, I would love to have ocha with you," then she looked at Ryoko with a tiny gilt of suspicion in her eyes, "and your friends."

Katsuhito's gray eyebrows shot up as did Sasami's blue ones at the honorific Skuld used for Sasami, while Ryoko's frown deepened as the uchu kaizoku thought, 'Maybe I hit her too hard.'

"Miya," agreement in Ryo-ohki's tone.

******** 

Tokyo Rail Station

The train station clock just rung its final note for eleven o'clock as Ayeka and Ohiten hurried out of the passenger car with overnight bags in hand. Just before the train had stopped, Ayeka's bodyguard had switch shoes, going from the spike-heeled shoes to a pair of white Nikes, while explaining to the inquisitive princess, "The high heels turn my legs into sticks if I wear them too long," Ayeka's response was a small smile.

As the two headed for the station's exit, Ayeka noticed with a mental reprimand that she had unconsciously drifted closer to Ohiten as the flow of people in the forever-crowded station invaded her comfort zone, then she heard her companion ask, "Grace, are you ii ne?"

"Hai, atashi ii na, Suzuri (Yes, I'm alright, Suzuri)," during the hours of their plotting it was decided that they would use their new nicknames and treat each other as sisters whenever possible so that their performance would be convincing, but Ayeka felt her fear of crowds lessen thanks to the warmth of Ohiten's concern, so she said, "You know how crowds bother me."

"Ee," Ohiten shifted slightly to place herself in a more protective position to Ayeka, which caused another one of Ayeka's little smiles to appear.

Once out of the building and onto the sidewalk, Ayeka's fear moved back into her unconsciousness and she stood next to Ohiten, who hesitantly asked, "Our hotel is within walking distance of the train station," then she waved her left hand toward some yellow cars, "or would you like to be driven there?"

"It's Oke, Suzuri," Ayeka's ruby eyes full of appreciation, "I think walking to our hotel is a wonderful idea."

"This way, Grace," Ohiten pointed with her head to her left and as both ladies turned left and walked along, the lady in the white coat kept her colorless eyes on the smaller woman, her mind sorted through MacClean's memories of his surveillance of the Masaki household, she listened to the tearful words the princess spoke to the little gray animal as she sat by the path, the hopeful tone when she asked Katsuhito about the technique he was using to train Tenchi, the crushing confession of loss to the boy in the cabin, the strength she drew from his optimistic words and the determined statement she made at the sacred tree of the Masaki Shrine. It took only fifteen minutes for the golden girl to agree with MacClean's assessment, 'Daddy's right, she is trying to be the iron hand in the velvet glove.'

At the same time Ayeka felt approval of the way Ohiten slipped into her role without error, so much of her plan was based on the teenager's acting ability for deep within the princess knew her darkest fears hungered for failure, 'So much of the future I built was taken from me and this is my only hope to recover it,' her gaze touched upon the faces that reminded her of her father's first wife, 'only obasama's and Tsunami-megami's presence has sated my worries about our otousama and okasamas,' then her vision drafted to the towering stone and glass buildings around her, 'yet do I rebuild my future with the wooden columns of the past,' her mind's eyes filled with the vision of a shorthaired boy, 'or with the stone columns of the future,' finally she looked at Ohiten, 'with people I barely know.'

Caught in thought the two ladies didn't notice a dark blue-haired woman in a powder blue Honda four-door, parked on the other side of the road, was watching them with interest, thinking, 'Katsuhito-ojiisan made it sound like Ayeka-oujosama was coming here alone,' the young lady picked up a small telescope and put it up to her dark right eye, 'Hen na.'

The childish cries of delight and adult clapping stopped Ayeka and Ohiten as they reached the right front edge of a small park next to the railroad station, both turned and saw a crowd of children and adults facing away from them with an arrangement of metal tubes, shiny rings and seats on eight ten-foot poles beyond them, then they heard a male voice say, "Micki-chan! Rescue!"

Immediately Ayeka and Ohiten saw a snowy white macaque climbed the farthest of the poles, stood on top of the seat, gathered itself and make a mighty leap where it landed onto a seat on another pole. From there the short-tailed monkey quickly crawled through the rings that ran between this pole and another, where it slipped down to a seat halfway down the pole. Here the dark-eyed animal climbed upside-down and hand-over-hand up a heavy rope that ran from the seat to the top of the next pole. On this pole there was a small platform with a small brown cage but the bars were too close for the crowd to see inside. With dexterous hands the monkey worked three of the wooden bars free from their sockets, reached in with its right hand and retrieved a sixteen-inch doll of Sailor V.

Ayeka was totally captivated by the high wire drama as she almost unconsciously squeezed her way through the crowd to get a better view, Ohiten too was enjoying the performance, even though MacClean's memory contained many animal acts, it wasn't the same as seeing it live. The two reached the front of the adults where they found one half-ring of sitting children with eyes all bright with sky-high excitement. At the same time Ohiten reached Ayeka's side, the snow monkey begun to walk along a thin tightrope that ended at a pole with a platform and a monkey-sized candy apple red bicycle next to a blueberry-colored box on top. The macaque used the doll to keep its balance but when it reached the halfway point, the box's top popped open with a jack-in-a-box holding a gun with a bang sign sticking out of the barrel followed by a loud bang sound. Many with hearts caught in their throats watched as the monkey clutched the red-white-and-blue dressed doll to its chest before pitching off the rope and shocked eyes followed the falling body until its descent dropped it into a five-foot barrel of water with a great splash. Ohiten had noticed that the animal was well trained since it fell in just the right way so it would land in the water without any harm but it didn't stop her from smiling at the heartfelt look on the princess' face which turned into pure joy when the snow monkey bounded out of the barrel still holding the colorful doll and she clapped along with the rest of the crowd as the furry animal went over to a brown-haired middle-aged man, gave him the doll and both of them bowed to the audience.

As the clapping started to die down the trainer said, "Jean-chan! Harri-chan! Forward!"

Ayeka and Ohiten watched as two more macaques came forward with large tin cups in their hands. The children looked up at the adults and almost all nodded, so the children stood up, took money from their pockets and took turns putting the coins or paper into the two shiny cups, as did several adults, including Ayeka. The purple-haired lady had taken her small purse from her own coat pocket, open it and pulled out one of the paper note but then looked at Ohiten with a questioning look. Ohiten realized that Ayeka wouldn't know how Nihon money worked so she looked at the note before nodding in agreement. "Arigato," smiles in Ayeka's ruby eyes as she put the paper note into the tin cup when it was her turn but things changed instantly when she absentmindedly put her purse back into her coat pocket only for it to be snatched from hand by a shorthaired man, who dodged away from her into the crowd as the slim lady cried out, "Suri!"

"I'm on it, oneechan!" Ohiten answered as she tossed her coat off and followed in the thief's wake.

Hayaiashi made it out of the ring of people before any could raise a hand to stop him, the man grinned at the knowledge that none here could match his track-and-field abilities, skills that should have guaranteed him a future as Nihon's number one track star and trainer but he lost his edge, his girlfriend and his glory thanks to one night of partying and a tragic car accident. In the two years since that early morning calamity he had built a new reputation, the best snatch-and-run pickpocket in Tokyo. He was already casing the crowd for likely targets when the foreign woman with the white hat took out a purse and by opening it showed it was stuffed with money, now the tanned man had the purse and with inflated ego he glanced at a reflection in a parked car he was going to pass, the sight he saw deflated him like a nail for only eight feet behind him was a golden girl in a red-white-and-blue sailor fuku, angry determination in her colorless eyes.

The pickpocket kicked into high gear as he ran between slower pedestrians, originally Hayaiashi planned to duck into an alley but the fiery-haired girl's speed meant she would catch him if he slowed to make the turn and her athletic body made it uncertain if he could defeat her in a contest of fisticuffs before someone else might intervene. The runner wasted no time with words or needless maneuvers and he was rewarded when another glance at a reflection from a parked car showed the girl was hadn't gained any on him.

Ohiten quickly noticed the runner's skill of the pickpocket but her fear of running into someone stepping out of a parked car or out of a shop prevented the teenager from going at her maximum speed, then an idea lit up her mind and without delay she leaped into the air. With skill drawn from MacClean's memories the youth used her momentum to ricochet off of mailboxes, telephone booths, lampposts and shop signs.

When Hayaiashi heard the running steps behind him change to metallic bangs he took a chance to glance over his shoulder, his face went deathly white at the sight of the flying girl just a few feet behind. In desperation the lanky man saw a four-year-old child with a large blue-white plastic ball in his hands walking next to a gray-haired woman, with a burst of remaining vitality heightened by the sound of his chaser landing on a mailbox he just passed, the green-suited man ran between the old woman and the child, knocking the elder onto the sidewalk and the child between the parked cars, because of the ball the little one bounced off the pavement, let go of the plastic sphere and rolled into oncoming traffic.

Ohiten's reaction was immediate, instinct told her she had to save the child no matter what, the adrenaline that fueled her leap from the mailbox belittled the pinprick pain from her right ear but teenager felt a sensation like a door opened in her mind while a bluish-white light burned in her eyes. To those who saw the child fall into the street it was a blurred red-white-and-blue image that landed crouched next to the frightened child, for a second or two they saw a fuku-dressed girl pick up the child with both hands before she jumped straight up into the air as a breaking car screeched into the space just vacated.

Fifteen feet further down the running pickpocket glanced back at his escape maneuver with relief, but as Hayaiashi started to look forward a powerful grip grabbed his neck and channeled his speed into an upward lift that caused the purse to slip out of his right hand. Barely able to look down due to the fingers digging into his neck, the thief found a pair of intense green eyes staring up at him, who's young female face was surrounded by ginger-colored hair, then words came out of her clenched teeth, "Oihagi (purse snatcher), you aren't going anywhere."

The girl in the beige-and-white sailor fuku turned her head to watch as Ohiten hovered for a moment five feet above the car, then the golden girl curled protectively around the child as both plummet, with a rip the human ball tore through the ragtop of the 1970 Corvette and landed in the occupied passenger seat.

Ohiten was all tense as she waited for the pain to come but then relaxed as the only thing she heard was the frightened crying of the child in her arms, and opened her eyes to find her body upside-down with her little nose almost touching the glove compartment. Looking up over the child's black-haired head she found her legs on each side of the seat's headrest, her blue skirt covered the child's body and a blond-haired head was buried in her Hello Kitty panties, a muffled male voice said, "Lucky!"

Using her right hand to hold her hat in place while carrying Ohiten's coat in her left, Ayeka ran to keep the two speedsters in sight but she soon lost them although she was able to see Ohiten take to the air before the golden girl disappeared back into the sea of heads, then dread touched the princess' soul as she saw the youth jump five feet straight up and fall straight down head first, in seconds a breathy sigh left her lips when a shouted, "CHIKAN!" reached her ears. The slim lady's ponytails drafted back down as she slowed to squeeze between motionless people, yet the princess' reaction was a stressed released snicker behind her left hand because before her was a car with a ripped roof, its passenger car door opened and Ohiten sat sideways on the seat with her feet on the ground as she handed a glistering faced child to a tearful old woman, the gray-haired lady hugged the child tenderly to her chest as her freed hand repeatedly patted Ohiten's smiling face and mumbled incoherent words, the man whose lap the redhead sat on was holding his nose with both hands, with a size eight imprint on his face and an accusing tone in his nasal voice, "That ko gyaru broke my nose!"

"Eikichi, you had to act like a hentai," no hint of sympathy from the bespectacled man in the driver seat.

Behind the mask of smiles Ohiten was digesting what had just happened. Former Star Seeds had taught her how to use her powers and her solar mother, Otaiyo, had told her daughter of MacClean's special abilities and after her first transformation, Ohiten studied MacClean's memories so she could correctly use those abilities but there were incidents that only recently MacClean had discovered the answers to: bullets knocking him off his feet but not penetrating his skin, explosions that left no wounds and injuries that healed at an incredible rate, now a new power had surfaced. The golden girl's thinking was interrupted when a man came forward to lead the old woman away from Ohiten, her colorless eyes saw Ayeka and her shoulders sagged as the princess returned the teenager's coat, "Gomen, Grace, I lost the suri."

"I believe this is your purse ne?" Ayeka and Ohiten looked in the direction the voice came from and they saw a pony-tailed girl in a long-skirted sailor fuku, an overnight bag on her right side, effortlessly holding the thief in the air with her right hand while her left foot lightly tapped the purse on the ground.

Ayeka's gratitude was obvious as she walked toward the green-eyed girl but Ohiten froze as her sight caught an image of a green symbol upon the teenager's forehead. 'Jupiter,' was what the redhead thought as she raised in a trance-like state only to be snapped out of it when a young boy ran up to her with an autograph pad in his hands and he excitedly asked, "Na na, V-chan, can I have your autograph?"

The mark disappeared and Ohiten slowly turned to the dreamy-eyed youth before she smiled apologetically, saying, "I'm not Sailor V," then she squat before the shorthaired boy and gave his shoulders a comforting squeeze with her hands, "Gomen," she added.

"That's who I thought you were when I saw you chasing down this bag of bones," the strong girl gave the pale faced thief a deadly glare, Ohiten searched Makoto's face for any hint the tall girl might have seen a symbol on the redhead's forehead, the only thing the golden girl found was a strong-willed smile.

The boy looked with disappointment at his pad but then his dark eyes lit up, "You are a hero," a child's faith in his tone as he looked back up at Ohiten, "and I'll bet someday you'll be as famous as Sailor V!"

"Ii ne," Ohiten surrendered as she took the pad, pulled out an ink pin and paused for a minute before signing it: Seijoki. As soon as the child had the pad in his hands, he gave the golden girl a one-arm hug before he ran back to his friends, who looked at the autograph with ohs-and-ahs in their wide eyes.

Ayeka picked up her purse and held it with both hands while she bowed to the ginger-haired girl, saying, "Domo arigato gozaimasu . . ." the princess paused with puzzlement in her ruby eyes.

"Oi, atashi baka wa (Oh, silly me!)!" chagrined look on her face as she held out her left hand as Ohiten joined them, "I'm Kino Makoto."

Ohiten shook Makoto's hand while saying, "I'm Masaki Ohiten," then introduced her companion, "and this is my oneesama, Masaki Ayeka."

"Do itashimashite," replied Makoto as Ayeka shook her hand, then she looked up at the thief, "Now, what should we do with him?"

"In ancient times they would cut off a thief's right hand," Ohiten's words full of unforgiving anger as she stepped forward so the thief could see her face.

"Maybe we should just turn him over to the nearest keisatsukan," Ayeka suggested, it was at this moment the princess noticed both teenagers were almost the same height.

"I wish but I've got a train to catch," Makoto didn't like the idea of letting the guy go.

Ohiten reached up with both hands and took the thief from Makoto and brought his face close to hers so he could feel her angry breath, "If you ever hurt another kodomo, I'll put nails in your coffin," then she shook him a few times to show she was strong enough to do it.

"I SWEAR!" there was real fear in Hayaiashi's promise.

Ohiten let go of Hayaiashi, who collapsed onto the sidewalk before he bolted away on all fours, then a perplexed look filled her golden face as she asked Ayeka, "Grace, where's our luggage?"

It looked like Ayeka's ruby eyes would pop out of her head as she pointed wordlessly over her shoulder in the direct the two had come from. "Iie wa yo!" was Ohiten's response as she made tracks in that direction but before Ayeka and Makoto could join her the blond-haired man from the car walked up to them still holding his nose, saying, "I think I'm going to need a plastic surgeon."

"You're the one with your nose buried in her panti (panties)," Makoto fired back with as she cracked her knuckles, "of course I could knock it back into shape."

"Sora! You're the one who asked if she did it for a living, Eikichi," said the other man from the car as his right hand smacked his companion on the left shoulder. 

"Oke Oke, Ryuji," as he held up his freed hand in surrender before adding under his breath, "Che (Man!)! Why do I run into violent girls even when I'm playing hokey?"

Ayeka's sight rested on the sport car's ruined roof and she said with resignation as she opened her purse, "Dewa, someone should pay for . . ."

"It won't be necessary," the man with the glasses, who was the driver, said with heartfelt words, "because your imotosan saved my honor."

At first Ayeka was surprised by the man's praise and she felt real pride in the golden girl's courageous act, it took a moment for Ayeka to bow and to say, "Domo arigato," then the princess turned away and with Makoto walked briskly to catch up with Ohiten.

Deep in thought Ayeka understood what had happened to her, 'I am falling for our own scheme,' an image of Ohiten filled her mind, 'I thought it would be clever to hide her in plan sight as my imotosan but I am losing sight of her as Roger-san,' Ayeka's ruby eyes held confusion, 'I feel joy and pride in Ohiten's deed like I would if Sasami or Yosho had done it,' now a serious look appeared on her face, 'but I know in my mind Roger-san is only here to aid my search for oniisama, for my inazuke, and once I find him, she will cease to be at my side,' then she felt her soul ache, 'yet my heart does not want Ohiten to stop calling me oneesama.'

"Genki, Masaki-san (Are you OK, Miss Masaki)?" the concern in Makoto's question caused Ayeka to give the ginger-haired girl a questioning look, "your face looked flushed and your eyes reflected worry," the tall girl explained. 

"I am just mad at myself for spoiling Ohiten's noble act," Ayeka veiled her inner turmoil behind a mask of properness.

"We all make dumb mistakes when we panic about someone else's safety," certainty in Makoto's voice, "we just try not to dance the same dance twice."

Ayeka felt the emotions behind Makoto's words but before she could ask the tall girl about it, the princess caught sight of a kneeling Ohiten in the park and heard the golden girl's mournful shout, "DADDY is going to kill me!" Once more guilt stabbed Ayeka's heart for she saw no luggage as she and Makoto came to stand by the golden girl, tears clouded the colorless eyes that looked up to them while grief touched lips said, "I lost ALL of his best stuff!"

Those words brought Makoto's eyebrows to her hairline and she looked from Ohiten to Ayeka to Ohiten back to Ayeka, the ginger-haired girl saw the unvarnished guilt in the redhead's tears and the purple-haired lady's silent stare and it tugged at her spirit, then the tall girl remembered why she was here and how it was a way to break sorrow's rule, so with good cheer in her voice Makoto said, "Genki dashite (Cheer up!)! I'm sure your otousan will forgive you especially when he finds out how you saved that child."

"Honto ne?" Ohiten's voice a mix of pain and hope.

"Zettai yo (I swear!)!" Makoto's oath ringed with robust conviction as her hands reached down to Ohiten. The golden girl saw the friendly smile on the tall girl's face and she smiled back as accepted the help. With Ohiten in front of her and Ayeka to her right, Makoto asked, "So Masaki-san, I assume you're here to enroll Ohiten-san at Azabu Junior High School."

"Hai," Ayeka realized that Makoto recognized Ohiten's school uniform and activated scene twenty-four, "Ohiten is here to enroll at Azabu Junior High School for the next school year beginning in April," then the princess pointed at her own face, "and I am here to make sure she does not get into any trouble while doing it."

"Ome! Grace!" Ohiten shoved her nose into Ayeka's face, "I wasn't the one who got her purse snatched and lost all of our luggage."

"Suzuri," older sister superiority in Ayeka's response, "this would not have happened if you had not been expelled from your school."

"The hentai-chan deserved it!" Ohiten countered, her tear stained face forgotten.

"He was the principle's musuko!" Ayeka's face was grim but a hint of mirth was in her eyes.

"He stole all of our panti!" Ohiten fought hard to keep a straight face when she saw the princess' merriment.

"A proper lady does not strip a fellow student, force him to wear his stolen goods and chase him through the school's hallways with a wet towel as a whip," Ayeka forced her words through clenched teeth, not trusting her mouth not to laugh, although the whip part was giving her some interesting ideas.

"I think every girl there," the golden girl's eyes sparkled with delight, "was overjoyed to see welts on his shiri (ass)."

"That as it may, you were expelled and he wasn't," as before Ayeka wondered how or where Ohiten came up with such a naughty story, then she switched gears, "and Suzuri, please remember a well-bred girl uses oshiri instead of the word you used."

At first Makoto was taken aback by the barbed words between the two totally different looking sisters but her dismay softened to understanding when she saw the same high spirits in their eyes, the same high spirits she saw in her new friends' eyes. With that in mind the pony-tailed girl interrupted, "So where are you staying?"

"Ara . . ." Ohiten decided she had to stay in character as the trendy teenager, who isn't concern about such mundane things.

Ayeka used Ohiten's pause to calm her emotions before saying, "We have reservations for the Roppongi Prince Hotel," then a sad look clouded her eyes, "but now I don't know if I have enough money to pay for our room and replace the clothes we have lost," then her voice became dejected, "and I do not want to call home for more funds."

"I refuse to wear this fuku for the whole five days we're here," Ohiten made a face like it was a fate worst than death.

"Dewa, I think I've got a solution to your problem," Makoto said as she knelt on the ground, opened her overnight bag, got out her purse and opened it, then she took out her key chain and removed a key. Next the ginger-haired girl got out a notepad and pen and drew a map with directions. It was with surprised looks that Ayeka and Ohiten heard the tall girl's next words as she held the key and the piece of paper out to them, "My class is going on a field trip to Nagasaki so if you like, you can stay at my apartment while I'm gone."

"What about your ryoshin?" Ayeka total surprise was plain in her words.

"I . . . I live alone," equal measure of pain and loss was in Makoto's words and features.

"But you do not even know us?" Ayeka could understand the unconditional support from family members but she couldn't fathom Makoto's unflinching generosity.

"Mochirou (Sure!)!" Makoto covered her sorrow with a guileless grin, "your actions told me I can trust you," then to get rid of any doubts she added, "Besides I need someone to water my plants while I'm gone."

"Kimari (Deal!)!" Ohiten said as she snatched the key and paper from Makoto's right hand then the golden girl looked at Ayeka, "Ne ne Grace ne?"

"Ii ne," Ayeka gave Ohiten an I-give-up look before she bowed to Makoto, saying, "Domo arigato gozaimasu, Kino-san."

"Ohiten-san is almost the same size as me," Makoto rubbed her chin as she judged the golden girl's body, "so she should be able to wear some of my clothes while you staying," then a sly grin touched her lips, "although they might be tight in a few places."

"The tighter the better!" laughter in Ohiten's words then she bowed to Makoto, saying, "Domo arigato!"

Makoto gave each girl a bow then she quickly closed her overnight bag while saying, "Dewa, I better hurry or I'll miss my train," then she waved at them while running for the train station, "Ja ne!"

"Sayonara," said Ayeka politely while she waved.

"Bye-bye!" Ohiten bounced on her toes while waving both hands.

After Makoto disappeared, Ohiten looked at the key and paper in her right palm then at Ayeka while saying, "Look, Grace, we're saved!"

"Roger-san, did you have to grab the key from Kino-san," Ohiten knew she was in trouble because of Ayeka's use of Ohiten's surname.

"I had to stay in character, Masaki-san," Ohiten used a serious tone as she held the key up like it was a talisman, "and it would've been a stain on Kino-san's honor if you'd decline her offer."

Suddenly Ayeka felt all hollow inside because of the unintentional sting of Ohiten's counter, the princess' eyes dropped to her feet for every part of her inner self told her outer self that she was at a crossroads, 'I have regained the value of my own honor, the value of my own duty, the value of my own family,' then she looked up with a determined look on her face, 'and it is time for me to understand the honor, the duty and the family of others.' That resolve shifted to wonder when the purple-haired lady found Ohiten's right hand almost touching her left shoulder, an openmouthed look upon the golden girl's face and self-revulsion quaked in the teenager's voice, Go . . . gomen nasai . . . Masaki-san."

Ayeka's hesitation didn't last a second, her left hand's tenderly took hold of Ohiten's right and the princess' noble tone filled her companion's ears, "Iie, Suzuri, it is I who am remiss," the slim lady's sensitive fingers felt the tremble of the redhead's body, "it is I who knows very little of the customs of your people." 

"I . . . I should've been nicer about it," Ohiten fought hard to control her voice, "you must feel at times like a fish on a chopping block."

"Hai, at times," Ayeka reached into her skirt pocket and fished out a pale green silk handkerchief with an apple blossom border and with her right hand she carefully wiped the unshed tears from Ohiten's eyes while she admonished, "You shouldn't cry so much, it makes you mascara run," Ohiten grinned at the purposeful joke since the only makeup the golden girl used was for her lips, then Ayeka added,  "and I am sure you can help me with the local customs of this land."

"Dewa, you do speak Nihongo very well," said Ohiten, she saw the kindness in Ayeka's gesture, "it's a good first step."

Ayeka could have told the truth that she was actually speaking Juraigo but instead the purple-haired woman said, "A good first step, Suzuri, but I want to take more," she then lightly squeezed Ohiten hand, "and I would like you to teach me to walk."

"Hai, Grace," Ohiten's voice was soft and her colorless eyes glowed with understanding.

Such an emotional scene didn't go unnoticed for across the street, the longhaired lady had returned to her car. She had gotten out of the Honda and followed the two up the street on the opposite side. When the thief took Ayeka's purse, she quickly increased her pace as Ohiten chased the pickpocket but when the golden girl took to the air, the feminine watcher had once more taken out her hi-tech scope and held it up to her right eye while her right index finger pressed a button. The tail was able to see Ohiten's energy aura with her device and it was in this mode her purple eyes saw the youth's aura shifted from the normal human energy signature to one that only Tsunami's children have, then in a wink-of-a-eye the redhead's whole body was encased in a Ko-Oh-Yoko, a Lighthawk Wing, and became a red-white-and-blue blur. Only her training kept the young lady from blowing her cover and so she just watched as the girl rescued the child, be joined by the princess and talked to the ginger-haired girl before running back to try to save their luggage. Now she reached for her cell phone to make a call as she watched Ayeka and Ohiten look at a piece of paper.

********

Masaki Shrine

"Uaa! The ocha and rice balls are great, Sasami-chan!" praised Skuld as she took pleasure in the contrasting taste of the sweet rice and the pickled umeboshi plum. The black-haired teenager knelt at the chabudai in Katsuhito's office along with the elder priest, the blue-haired princess and the uchu kaizoku, who had Ryo-ohki perched amongst her spiky cyan hair.

"Miya," Ryo-ohki's one word had a demanding tone to it.

"Oke, oke," Ryoko passed a carrot stick up to her lifelong companion as she continued to speak in an annoyed tone, "Just don't leave any orange crumbs in my hair."

"Miya," Ryo-ohki seemed insulted by such doubt in her carrot eating skill.

"Ryoko-dono, I wish you could taste how Sasami-chan has outdone herself," Katsuhito wasn't sure why Ryo-ohki wouldn't leave Ryoko's head but he decided he would learn the reason sooner or later.

"Actually, guji," Ryoko took a big bite out of her rice ball before she continued, "I can tell how good it is."

"Oi?" Katsuhito did a Spock, Sasami held her breath and Skuld wondered, 'What's all this talk about taste?'

"Hai," Ryoko chewed then swallowed before adding with a smile, "I can tell by how munchable the rice is, the crispness of the nori (seaweed) and the buzz of the ocha."

Once more Katsuhito noticed the heartaching guilt that held Sasami's features whenever Ryoko's inability to taste came up, so did Ryoko for she reached over to place a reassuring hand on the little one's forearm before saying, "Sasami-chan, I've told you before it's not your fault."

"I . . . I know," Sasami's snuffled voice and shaking shoulders betrayed her words.

Ryoko's worried look transformed into devilishness as her body darted over the table, rolled and scooped Sasami off the floor and did a power climb through the opened office window, she tightly hugged the surprised child to her ample chest and Ryo-ohki held onto Ryoko's scalp with a death grip.

"I KNEW IT!" Skuld shouted as she bounced up on her white shocked feet while she held her mallet in a double handhold. She made for the office door but paused after sliding it open to give the Shinto priest a scornful look due to the calm way he stood up from his sea green cushion. The teenage goddess slipped on her boots, sprinted to the middle of the shrine's ground and held her mallet in a striking position while searched the cloudless sky, shouting, "Where are you, ONI!"

Just as Katsuhito peaceful walk reached Skuld, a shout filled the air, "CANNONBALL RUN!"

Skuld looked in the shout's direction but the sun's glare fouled her vision so much that the cyan-haired comet diving out of it was at point-blank range before she saw and let out a screech while a pressure wave knocked her off her feet when Ryoko passed by her at a hair's length. From her grounded position, Skuld saw Ryoko do a steep climb which turned into four left turns so she was driving back at the young goddess, who saw the devil-be-damned glee on Ryoko's sharp face, the out-of-this-world terror in Ryo-ohki's fuzzy face and the roller coaster thrill in Sasami's round face. The teenager's pounding heart was absolutely certain she was about to become street pizza and her brown eyes almost lost their spirit just as Ryoko pulled out and blew passed a mountain lake cool Katsuhito.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" squealed Sasami.

"MMMMMIIIIYYYAAAAA!!!" screamed Ryo-ohki.

"YYYYYAAAAHHHHOOOO!!!" shouted Ryoko.

Within ten feet of the elder priest, the uchu kaizoku did a right wingover and flew down the shrine's granite staircase to the first rest spot where she shot straight out toward the lake while cutting her engines. In a dead stick maneuver the ample lady flipped onto her back as her body dropped, Ryo-ohki's eyes getting bigger and bigger as the lake's shinny surface got closer and closer, she let out a-not-this-again, "Miya!"

Like a flat stone Ryoko skipped over the watery surface while her grinning face watched as Sasami joyfully squealed with each splashy bounce, then the uchu kaizoku used her remaining velocity to pull up into a Hammerhead stall, there at twenty feet the trio floated in the air where Ryoko said softly, "Sasami-chan, don't you know how deeply your sadness penetrates my body?"

Sasami looked up at Ryoko as water drops from Ryoko's sopping wet hair fell upon her pink face like tears, "Gomen, oneechan," her little arms tighten her grip upon Ryoko, "it's just I feel . . . feel . . ." her words stopped because the little one didn't know how to explain her guilt without the fear she would lose Ryoko's friendship.

"You feel responsible for what happened to me during my imprisonment because you are Tsunami-megami's bondmate," Sasami wordlessly nodded her head then Ryoko continued, "then don't be."

"I can't help it!" Sasami's tears joined the water drops, "I care so much for you!"

"You wouldn't if you knew me before the cave," hard love in Ryoko's eyes, "I was everything Ayeka-san accused me of," her words full of self-hate, "I would've gutted every person you loved in front of you with pleasure before I took the life from your pink eyes," then she remembered Kagato, "an akurei of hakai I once was and can be again."

"Iie!" Sasami's face full of fierce love, "I won't let it happen!"

A spark of hope alit in Ryoko's heart but it was put out by the hopeless darkness within Ryoko's soul, she pulled up Sasami into a Misaki level hug and as her right cheek touched Sasami's left cheek, the ample lady quietly said, "I wish you could."

"Tsunami-megami will protect you," Sasami's hands locked around Ryoko's slim neck and she returned the hug, "I promise."

Ryoko kept her mouth closed, she didn't want to contradict Sasami's promise because the ample lady wanted it, yet sad tears spilled from her closed eyes for she knew if Kagato commanded it, Sasami would die by her hand. When Sasami felt Ryoko's hot tears mix with hers, the littlest princess closed her eyes and reached out with her mind to her unseen companion, 'Tsunami-neechan, please help Ryoko-neechan.'

The key on Sasami's forehead glowed brightly, the child felt the goddess' butterfly touch upon her spirit and heard affection in the silent divine words, 'Sasami, I hope we will be there to help Ryoko-san, Tenchi-san, Ayeka-san and the others.'

Sasami remembered Tsunami's description of how the blue-haired goddess perceived the future like the silky down of a Jurain Star Thistle, not just one future but multiple futures with each one having the possibility of coming true and how Tsunami didn't know which one was true, the only thing her friend of seven-hundred-years could give her was hope. So the little one filled every fiber of her spirit with simple trust before sending a simple thought to Tsunami, 'I believe we will.'

A wet cat looking Ryo-ohki watched from Ryoko's tangled cyan-hair, her amber eyes saw two outlooks the future revealed in tears, from her comrade's tears came fear but from her littlest friend's tears came hope. The fuzzy creature also saw the bluish-white glow from Sasami's key and she knew Sasami's other nature was the reason for the calm, a trusting look upon Sasami's face. 

Both Skuld and Katsuhito stood at the entrance to the shrine's ground and watched Ryoko and company float in the air like a balloon, slowly pushed along by a moist west breeze. The gray-haired priest looked down, saw the pure awe upon the child-goddess face and he knew the teenager saw the same thing his Jurain senses sharpen by his Shinto training revealed, a bluish-white aura cocooned the trio, but what the elder didn't know was that the Skuld's divine sight saw not the aura, instead the brown-eyed girl saw a blue-haired lady in a billowing multicolored garment, whose translucent form held the three as her own divine face was wetted by tears. Just as Katsuhito was about to make a comment to Skuld the telephone in his office begun to ring, so with a little pause the gray-haired man made his way to answer the machine.

Skuld just stood there, her whole being was caught up in the spectacle of love she saw drifting before her, not just the love between Ryoko and Sasami, not just the love between the child-goddess and the adult goddess, not just the love Ryo-ohki had for her companions, it was the comforting, forgiving love both goddesses showed to a being Skuld considered to be nothing more than a demon that shook her to the very roots of her being.

"They're like onee . . ." Skuld's face became alarmed, "Oneesama!" The teenager spun on her heels and ran toward the shrine's office while saying, "I've got to get to oneesama before Keiichi-san does anything!"

The telephone stopped ringing when Katsuhito picked up the receiver, the elder asked, "Moshi-moshi, Masaki-jinja."

"Kobanwa, Katsuhito-ojisan," the polite voice of Masaki Kiriko came out of the phone.

Katsuhito smiled at his niece's greeting as he said, "Kiriko-dono, it's good to hear from you although I didn't expect your call until this evening." 

"Dewa," Kiriko stringed out the word before she continued, "when you kindly asked me to keep an eye on Ayeka-sama while she was in Tokyo, I was under the impression that she was alone?"

"Tadshii, Kiriko-dono," the priest heard hidden meaning in his niece's question so he asked, "did you find it different?"

"Hai," Kiriko's voice sounded like she was about to pull-the-cat-out-of-the-bag, "I find that Ayeka-sama has a guide."

"Oi," Katsuhito heard fast footfalls behind me and he glanced over his right shoulder, saw Skuld heading for the low table before he returned his attention to Kiriko's voice.

"Ee," Kiriko sounded very pleased with herself, "a teenager is with Ayeka-dono and it looks like they are getting along like they were oneesans."

"Could you tell me what this ojosan look . . ." just then Katsuhito heard a snap-crackle-pop sound behind him, but when he turned around the only thing he found different was Skuld was gone and the teakettle lid was opened.

"Is anything wrong, ojisan?" Kiriko's concern was very evident.

"Iie, iie," Katsuhito didn't have time to consider what might have happened so he filed away the information for future mediation, "you know how old people's hearing is like."

"Oke," it sounded like Kiriko was having trouble accepting her elder's answer, "anyway the girl is tall, with flaming red hair and her skin tone is a rich honey color."

A very concern look appeared on Katsuhito's face and he asked, "What does her face look like."

"Her eyes have white irises and almond shaped, her nose is quite small but her forehead, cheeks and chin are very Western," her voice sounded like she was looking at the girl she was describing.

"What are they doing now?" Katsuhito was concentrating on every one of Kiriko's words.

"I think they're asking passersby for directions because they show a piece of paper to the people," then Kiriko's voice became alert, "Oi, now they're walking down the street," her voice shifted tone, "and stopped by a bus pickup sign."

"Kiriko-dono, I know you're busy with your duties as GP Immigration Officer," Kiriko could tell by Katsuhito's tone that this wasn't a request from her favorite uncle, it was a request from the man who got her into GP Academy, "but could you continue to watch over Ayeka-sama?"

"Like flipping my hand, ojisan," Kiriko put bravo into her voice, "do you want me to join them?"

"Mo, watch them, report," Katsuhito's tone made sure Kiriko understood his meaning, "and help both of them should they get into any trouble but don't reveal yourself."

Kiriko realized the questions Ayeka would ask her if the GP officer was revealed to them, "You haven't told her yet?" the thirty-something woman didn't sound very happy.

"I need to carefully choice the time and place for my confession very carefully, Kiriko-dono," Katsuhito's voice sounded unhappy too, "Ayeka is going through a difficult period in her life."

"She is trying to fulfill a childhood dream," more a statement than a question by Kiriko.

"Hai, a broken dream whose shards she once tried to use to open her own veins with," a dark sadness in the elder's voice.

There was a long pause before Kiriko said, "Katsuhito-ojisan, I will watch over Ayeka-oujosama and make sure she'll have no accidents."

"Gu," Katsuhito commended his niece's determination, "Sayonara, Kiriko-dono."

"Sayonara, ojisan," Kiriko returned the goodbye.

Without looking down Katsuhito put the receiver on its hook for already his mind was going back, back into his past, to fourteen years after his first wife's death, it was 1431. The moonless night was heavy with fog like God wanted Katsuhito and his companions to succeed in their mission, its wet shroud allowed them to find the entrance to the Roman catacombs undetected by the English guards, the catacombs ran underneath the castle located in the town of Rouen, where a sixteen-year-old girl was being held captive in one of the stone fortress' round towers, a captive of the English king and his French clergy lackeys, a girl her captors planned to burn-at-the-stake on this day, at high noon.

"Good God, the stench in here is awful," a voice Katsuhito knew to belong to Thomas Hide, the seventh son of a Welsh leatherworker.

"Just be glad it ain't the rainy season or we'll be wading though pee, shit and whatever else they dump down the castle's asshole," the rough language instantly identified Caesar Angelus, the bastard son of a Genovese merchant prince, who joined the French army when he heard about the Maid, whose ears the angels whispered into.

"You know if you talk any louder, an old, crippled, deaf and nearsighted war dog could hear you," a harsh whisper came from the man holding a lantern in front of Katsuhito, a man many believed to come from the desert lands of frankincense because of his black skin even though his hair was as blond as Norseman, George Blahman.

"Mmmmm?" a dog's whine came from a massive shadowy form that the light barely showed.

"Methinks you've hurt Harry's feelings," Katsuhito's French barely revealed his non-Western heritage, the commanders who led King Charles' armies weren't picky about the men and the Maid seemed to have a fondness for wayward people.

"Sorry, dog," Katsuhito heard the rolling-of-the-eyes in George's apology.

"Woof," a soft bark came from the great dark form, only a man in plate had a chance against this animal, who was the Maid's bodyguard by royal decree and suffered many battlefield wounds before he failed his duty.

"Doesn't anyone find it strange we are depending on an animal to get us into this castle?" Thomas muffled voice told Katsuhito that the man was holding a perfumed handkerchief to his nose and mouth, each man held a part of a rope that ran from the dog's spiked collar.

"In my land a dog can find a path where none can see one," Katsuhito pointed out.

"True, Yosho," George kept his voice low, "the friars of Saint Bernard use dogs like Harry to rescue travelers lost in the Alps' snow storms," then the man held his hand up to stop the talk as he looked ahead, all four were able to see the dog standing next to two beams of round light.

All four made their way to the lit area where Katsuhito patted the dog's huge head, whispering, "Good job Harry."

"Woof," pleasure in Harry's sound, the Maid and Katsuhito were the only ones the dog allowed to touch him. Katsuhito was given the dog by a grateful family, whose daughter he saved from rape by a band of hired swords and when he joined the Maid's personal bodyguard, the massive animal was always by her.

"I hope no one is about to take a shit," Caesar commented as the light shined off of a star grappling hook, "they'll lose their nuts when I yank."

Thomas untied the rope from Harry's collar and tied it to the hook's eye, "If it's a kitchen wrench, she'll lose her virginity in a most painful way."

"A virgin in this pile of rocks?" Caesar smirked as he gathered up the rope with his left hand while his right held the hook, "Now that would be a miracle."

"Then we have a miracle in the central tower," Katsuhito countered with some ire.

"Woof," Harry seemed to agree with Katsuhito's statement.

"Get going, Caesar," impatience was in George's voice, "the rooster calls in a few hours."

"Yes, Captain," annoyance in Caesar's voice, most people couldn't believe that George had been in charge of the Maid's personal bodyguard and many believed the foreigner held himself personally responsible for her capture, even though his legs had been broken by his horse's death during the capture.

With an upward throw Caesar's sent the grappling hook up one of the beam of light and all pair of eyes watch it disappear followed by a clanging sound of metal on stone. The Genoese slowly pulled the rope until the hook caught on something and then he tugged really hard with all his weight, the hook held.

"So who's going to do the honors?" Thomas asked.

"I'll go up first," George announced in a don't-argue-with-me tone, everyone there smiled including the dog because this was the reason why no one amongst the Maid's bodyguard objected to the dusky man's command, he led by example and not by orders. The man grabbed the thick rope with both hands and started his assent, Katsuhito admired George's quickness for a man close to six feet tall, the way he stopped just below the hole to listen before he grabbed onto the edge of the other opening and pulled himself through.

Suddenly fear gripped the three men's heart and the dog growled as a startled voice echoed down to them, a female voice, then the two beams from above flickered as something rolled across them along with the rustle of linen, this was followed by moaning sounds, Katsuhito noticed Harry's tail started to wag vigorously.

After some minutes the sounds ceased which made Caesar concerned enough to cupped his hand to his mouth and called up in a harsh whisper, "Captain, is any . . ." his body involuntarily jumped when a piece of cloth hit his upturned face. With a grin on his Welsh face, Thomas lifted the item from his friend with the wide-eyed and held it up so everyone could see, a beautiful white-laced scarlet garter.

After another block of time passed George called down to them, "I'm ready to help the next person up."

"I hope your legs aren't too weak, Saracen," Thomas said good-naturedly as he jumped up and grabbed the rope, "at least I can get away from this filth." If the name had come from a nonmember of the Maid's bodyguard there would be swords drawing, but amongst them it was a sign of respect for it was the nickname given to George by the Maid, given to him with affection.

Katsuhito and Caesar watched Thomas' wiry body go up the rope to the hole and then into the cavity, then the Welshman called down to them in an amused tone, "You're next, Lombardman."

"Yeah, yeah," snarled Caesar as he jerked down on the rope, "Yuk it up, sheep fondler." Katsuhito noted there was no true anger in the Italian's retort, both men had been companions' since the siege of Orleans, gambling, drinking and wrenching together.

When Caesar disappeared into the bright hole, Katsuhito tied the rope to a harness the Jurain had made especially for the dog and then the black-haired man started his climb. During his climb the prince thought about how he ended with this group of men, how he left Nihon to get away from his children's children and to grieve for the death of his first wife, Natsumi. How along the Silk Route at Samarkand, he found George Blahman, a veteran soldier who advanced to a position of command in the armies of Timur Lang, known in the west as Tamerlane. A year early the great Islamic warlord had died leading his armies against the Ming Dynasty in China, his death led to heated arguments over whom of his many sons should rule, it was at this point George had decided to leave before he was forced to use his weapons against people he had called friends. At first Katsuhito and George traveled together because they were with the same caravan but when the Jurain saw how easily the dark man spoke the native languages of the merchants in the caravan they were in, the prince decided quickly that this man's knowledge made him worth having as a companion. Katsuhito first attempt to connect with George was successful with an offer of a morning meal of rice porridge, which George added to by sharing his skin of apple vinegar. The conversation between bites and sips started out in a language Katsuhito knew, Cantonese, but the prince was surprised when his dusky companion changed it into Nihongo. With a smile George explained he had at one time washed ashore on the west coast of Nihon, near the fishing village of Iwasaki. The villagers were fascinated by his size and foreignness, especially the children. Distant happiness was in his words as he vaguely told of his five-year stay but then sadness enveloped his tone when he told of his departure, one of the fishermen took him across the Sea of Japan to the rocky coast of Manchuria.

"Come on, Masaki," Katsuhito startled back into reality by George's words, "no woolgathering, we still got to get your dog up." Thomas helped black-haired man out of the hole while he grinned at their captain, George and Harry had a mutual dislike for each other from the moment Katsuhito was given the pup that included pranks and tricks, Caesar thought it was because the big man was a cat lover.

Katsuhito looked around the castle's latrine and found it quite ordinary, a four-by-four room with two holes, probably not the only one the fortress had, but there was something else here that Caesar was standing over: on the floor was a bounded and gagged unconscious young woman in a plain brown ankle-length dress.

"Hey, you've seen a woman before," George's growl got their attention, "now get over, the dog is heavy."

Both men joined the other two and between grunts, Caesar said, "When we get Harry out . . . we should give her two smiles . . . and dump the body into the hole . . . so the rats can have a feast." Katsuhito's heart was chilled by the Lombard's words and glanced over his shoulder where he found the brown-haired woman's eyes had popped open with a startled fright.

"Mmmmm," Katsuhito attention was pulled to the hole by Harry's mournful whine, in a moment two brown-and-white paws latched onto the sides of the hole, then the dog's shaggy head filled the rest of the hole and without missing a beat the animal lunged toward Katsuhito where its wet tongue gave its master a chin-to-hair lick, the prince usual composure collapsed due to the doggy droll while Caesar and Thomas chuckled lowly. 

"Dogs," George said with a lopsided smile before he turned to face Caesar with the same smile as he held a key under the man's big nose, "and why should I reward a loyal subject of King Charles with death when she has given us the means to free his lordship's guardian angel?"

Thomas' pale face lit up and Katsuhito's felt for the first time that this wasn't a snowball-chance-in-Hell mission, then Caesar thumped George's right shoulder with his left fist and said good-naturedly, "Captain, you cockled the jailor."

"No, she not the English jailor's wife," a low smoldering fire in George's gray eyes, "he took a fancy of Nana and the scum made sure she couldn't say, no."

Each man there heard the depth of feeling George put into the maid's name and Thomas fished out the garter and gave it to the dusky man, saying, "Then this is her vengeance."

"For the lost of the joy of the first time," George slowly walked over, knelt by the tied woman, "for the ripping of Nana's virginity from her," and carefully slipped the garter onto her right leg, "and a chance to help her discover love's beauty."

"Captain, you've got a Venetian heart," Caesar's grinned as George's right hand lightly touched Nana's right cheek, her eyes closed once more but tears leaked from them.

At this moment Katsuhito looked at his companions like a picture he wanted to keep in an album, like him each was dressed in black leather armor from head to foot, except for Harry. Both Caesar and Thomas were armed with longswords, shortswords and light crossbows. Now George was a sight with the mix of strange weapons he carried: a knight's estoc on his left hip, an assassin's hand crossbow in a fancy holster on his right hip, a handcannon strapped to his back with its box of lead bullets and its black powder pouch attached to his wide belt along with nine other baseball-sized bags which from experience the prince knew what was in them, Chinese grenades. Harry didn't carry anything except what God gave him.

Thomas was the first to cautiously look out the water room before he gave the all-clear sign to the others. The party walked thought the gray passageways with George in the lead, followed by Thomas, Katsuhito, Harry and Caesar in that order. The deep-set windows they passed showed the English commander had doubled guards on the walls but left the halls of the inner keep with rooms full of sleeping people. The inner keep was built around a central tower and the band succeeded in making their way to it but a sleepy guard at the tower entrance stopped them. The guard's head kept bobbing up and down as he tried to stay awake and his mental cobwebs prevented him from having a chance of detecting the group hiding in the shadows. George held up his right hand and gave a silent gesture and both Thomas and Caesar responded instantly, Katsuhito watched the two men move so both had enough room to put their crossbows to their shoulders and take aim at the guard. To the guard it must have been like the pale rider had called his name for one bolt pierced his skull between his helmet and his right ear while another bolt demolished his voice box, only the halberd he used to lean on prevented his body falling to the granite floor.  

On quick silent feet the band moved forward as one where Katsuhito and Caesar took hold of the dead guard and carried him into the tower while George gave the halberd to Thomas and softly whispered "Play good English guard."

"But that would mean I'd have to kill myself," Thomas whispered back, George only shook his head in reply before he led the rest of them up the stairs.

Built by Charlemagne to protect his wooden capital the old central tower had been converted by the English into the fortress' arsenal, where replacement cannons, cannon balls and hogshead-sized kegs of black powder were stored, only the top floor remained as a sleeping quarter for their most valued prisoner or prisoners. This time it was Katsuhito who poked his head around the final corner where he found the night jailor in a chair by a plain table with a brown ceramic cup with a wick turning the lamp oil in it into a dancing light, there the middle-aged man was reading a book. Opposite the man Katsuhito saw their goal, a wooden door with a heavy iron lock upon it. The prince ducked back down and made a gesture to Harry, the dog's eyes seemed to glow with ferocity yet he only loped past his master and calmly walked toward the blond-haired man.

The sounds of Harry's pads upon the cool stone brought the guard's head up but he only smiled before saying, "So someone has taken pity upon old Will Talbot and sent you to keep me company," then he gave a foul look at the door, "since the witch does nothing as long as chains of divine cold iron robs her of the gift of her hellish husband's power," the man didn't notice the dog looked at him like he was already dead.

With Will in the chair, Harry and the night jailor were nose-to-nose, so when the breaded man reached to pat the dog's head, Harry's head dropped two inches, turned and his mouth opened. Will tried to scream out his pain but nothing came, the larynx and the trachea of the man's crocked neck were ripped away by the big dog's bite. Harry stepped back as the man shot up on his feet as his mouth produced silent screams then the dog spit out the man's flesh as if it was poison. The man walked a few steps by Harry like the dog wasn't there, this brought Katsuhito up onto his feet and the youngish looking man unsheathed the Scottish claymore he carried on his back, Will looked grateful at the ending of his agony as the prince performed an executioner's blow, the headless body and bodiless head dropped to the ground.

Caesar walked pass Katsuhito as the taller man cleaned his blade with oilcloth, the Lombardman picked up the book Nick was reading and spoke the title out loud, "Canterbury Tales, can't be good, it's written in that bastard English tongue."

When Katsuhito put his big sword back into its scabbard, he patted Harry's head while saying, "Good dog," then he noticed someone was missing, "Where's . . ."

"The Captain said he's going to give the English dogs some Chinese fireworks," a demonic grin on Caesar's face as he walked towards the door."

"But the . . ." a surprised Katsuhito started to say as he and Harry joined the Italian.

"Don't worry, Yosho," with a flourish the black-haired man produced the key, "the Captain gave me the key."

"Oh," Katsuhito knew he should be used to George's onsite embellishments of any operation, he had done it numberless times in Scotland and France.

Caesar held the padlock in one hand while the other hand put the key in the keyhole and turned, a loud click came and the Lombardman removed the lock and tossed it on the table, then he flipped the iron latch back and opened the door.

"Weren't your questions enough," a challenge came from inside the dark room, "have you come like thieves in the night to hide your assaults upon my body from God's light?"

"We're here to spring you from this dog house, Commander," Caesar said from the entrance.

Katsuhito retrieved the bowl with the burning oil from the table and held it up so to cast away the darkness from the jail cell, there they found the Maid sat upon her straw mattress bed, the flickering light should an iron will in her brown eyes and iron manacles whose chains linked her hands and feet to a two-inch thick iron eye set in the wall next to her. That light too revealed her rescuers' faces, her hands half reaching toward them and her eyes softened with tears while her voice tried to remain strong, "Yosho . . . Caesar . . ." then Harry bolted from Katsuhito's side to fill the Maid's embrace and started to lick her tears from her face, "and Harry!"

"Those bitches' pups! They did this to the Commander," Caesar's anger seemed to roll about him for in the time he had protected the Maid, she had never cried yet here in front of them was someone who had lost hope.

"Yet you saw the resolve in Joan's eyes when we first entered," Katsuhito pointed out as he stepped around Caesar, "she lost hope but never her faith."

Caesar took a moment to digest Katsuhito's words before he nodded his agreement, then the Lombardman walked over to the Maid while the prince pulled Harry off, "Give me two shakes of a boy's dick to get those chains off," the black-haired man pulled out an elongated cloth bag and opened it as he knelt by the girl.

The Maid's moment of joy was suddenly replaced with the worry in her voice, "What about George and Thomas?"

"Both are down stairs," Katsuhito reassured her as Caesar pulled out metal probes and lockpicks from the bag, "making sure of our escape."

"God, forgive my doubts in the voices," the Maid's voice full of recrimination as she held her hands out to Caesar, "for my English captors had soiled seeds of fear," her eyes looked away from her companions, "I was afraid the voices had deceived me with false promises."

"Only a fool has no fear," Katsuhito's right hand gave the Maid's right shoulder a comforting squeeze, "that why he can walk off a cliff without doubts."

The Maid looked up at Katsuhito with a grateful smile, "Thank you, my white angel."

"Don't I get a thanks too?" wounded pride to Caesar's voice as an audible click was heard and the first manacle dropped off.

"Of course my foulmouthed Roman," for some reason Caesar kept his eyes on his work and wouldn't meet the Maid's smiling face.

Katsuhito went over to the room's lone window and examined the bars, then he looked over his shoulder to make sure neither Caesar nor the Maid saw want he was about to do, both weren't looking his way so he quickly brought out Tenchiken, flamed on the blade and with simple repartee he cut the bars twice where the metal met the stone. The prince put away Tenchiken and carefully placed the iron bars on the floor before he looked out and found the view as George said it would be, the sight of distant Cathedral of St. Catherine washed in light from its windows, the light furnished by thousands of candles burning in prayer for the Maid's soul. The beauty of the scene and the Maid's use of her pet names for him, called back the memory of his first meeting of the Maid. How George decided that Scotland was getting tame for two sword-for-hires like them and they came to France, where it looked like the English and Burgundians were about to dethrone the Armagnac rulers of France. Katsuhito went along with his companion's decision because of his friendship with the man and because he was still learning about this new land. True to form George didn't take them to Armagnac court in Chinon, where the Dauphin of France was staying while the English occupied his capital, Paris, instead the dusky man took them to the town of Vaucouleurs where he offered his services to town's garrison commander, Robert De Baudricourt.

Baudricourt was a loyal veteran soldier of the Armagnac rulers of France but he was tired of losing men in battles where they were always the losers to either the English or the Burgundians, and he had little hope for the Dauphin, the uncrowned prince acted like he didn't have a backbone. All these factors weighed Baudricourt's mind and left him open to surprise when two mercenaries came to the minor noble and offered to fight for what looked like a lost cause. It didn't matter to Baudricourt that both looked like half-breeds, one with black skin and the other with Asian features, both had fought the English under the leadership of the Scottish border lords. Immediately Baudricourt put them to work as drillmasters, knocking the cobwebs from the garrison soldiers' minds. Then a second less pleasant surprise occurred three days later when a sixteen-year-old girl named Jeannie D'Arc, escorted by her male cousin, came to him and told the Armagnac officer she had been ordered by God to fight for the Dauphin.

Katsuhito and George were with Baudricourt in the noble's audience room, so the prince looked over the Maid in her full-length plain green dress and he was impressed by her physical presence, the brown-haired girl was as tall as Baudricourt with a trim body, with hands tough and with a face firm from hard work, but there was more because Katsuhito's Shinto trained Jurain senses showed Joan was surrounded by a golden aura. The black-haired man glanced at his blond-haired friend and saw George was fighting hard to keep a straight face, his gray eyes full of knowing. In the twenty odd years of their friendship Katsuhito successfully hid his not-of-this-planet origin from George, which wasn't that hard since the tall man didn't ask any questions about the prince's past but the opposite was true of George, the man never volunteered any information beyond his experiences as a soldier for Timur and teaching Katsuhito how to speak different languages. In time the Jurain concluded what he knew of George's past was just the tip of an iceberg and what lie underneath the placid surface of his friend's demeanor would be revealed by happenstance.

On the other hand Baudricourt's reaction to the Maid's request was straight-to-the-point, the warrior told her cousin to, "take her home to her father and give her a good whipping."

Katsuhito saw the astonishment on the Maid's face at such a rude and out-of-hand treatment of her heartfelt declaration and the prince felt sympathy as the cousin led away the spirit-crushed girl. Later Katsuhito found George at the town's gate, the blond man watched the Maid leave with her hung low like her horse's, her cousin's comforting hand upon her right arm, yet the Jurain still found a knowing look in his friend's eyes. Seven months passed by and the two men had gained Baudricourt's trust with their dedication in the tasks assigned to them yet Katsuhito could tell by George's anxiousness that his friend was waiting for something to happen. So the prince wasn't really surprise when the Maid once more appeared before Baudricourt with George and Katsuhito with him, but this time she was dressed not as a woman but as a man, with her hair in a page cut.

When Baudricourt saw the Maid, he said with displeasure, "Not her again."

With a manly pose the Maid begun to speak, "I know I'm but a poor girl, ignorant in the craft of riding a horse in battle and the craft of fighting with sword and shield, yet I have been instructed by the voice of an angel to fight for my king, to give him guidance from God." 

Katsuhito was impressed by the Maid's words but Baudricourt wasn't for he said, "Leave my presence and get married, conceived boys for your husband and send them to me if you want so much to fight for our king."

"Please my lord!" the Maid's voice ringed with conviction, "I need your aid to reach my king without delay for every day that is lost another vessel of my king is lost thanks to an English sword."

"No!" Baudricourt got half way out of his chair, "I will not be a party to such a falsehood as you."

"Then I will pray for your soul," the Maid's eyes burned with a prophet's fire, "for upon the field of Orleans my king will lose many loyal warriors because you have no faith in God's ways."

"Leave my sight!" Baudricourt stood and gave the Maid a dismissive gesture with his right hand, the brown-haired woman glared at the noble before she turned on her heel and left.

Katsuhito watched the Maid leave before he looked at a livid Baudricourt and then at George, where his friend's tight-lipped grin and nodding head suggested that what just happened was an important event. The prince had seen this look on his companion's face before, on their journey along the Silk Route, their trek through Europe and their seventeen years in Scotland, it was as if the future held no mystery for him. For once the Jurain wasn't going to let it pass without comment, "She's leaving?"

"Nope," George's smile got bigger, "I think we are going to have a houseguest."

Baudricourt groaned with his right-hand going to his head. 

It was true, the Maid stayed at the town's inn but not for long because in a few days the news of the Armagnac military defeat on the field of Herring, outside of Orleans, reached Vaucouleurs. The next morning the Maid was before Baudricourt for the third time where she asked with a determined look, "My Lord Baudricourt, I pleas for your help are not for me, a poor girl, or for my humble family but for every man whose blood has been shed for my king."

George stood on the right side of Baudricourt with Katsuhito on the left, Baudricourt looked first at Katsuhito, who kept a neutral look upon his face, and then at George, who looked down at the lord and nodded his head. The prince saw the nod and knew this explained why George wasn't in his bed during the previous night, his friend had asked Baudricourt to grant the Maid's request and mostly likely gone to the Maid to arrange this third audience. Katsuhito had also noted the expression of resignation on Baudricourt's face, like the procession of events had taken from him any reasonable ways to stop a virgin girl from acting like a fool, maybe even be killed without making a difference. With heavy words the noble said, "I shall not stand in your way, foolish girl, with three men I trust I shall send you to the Dauphin."

"I thank you, my lord," the Maid held herself straight and strong.

Baudricourt's face became hard at the Maid's triumphant tone and his next words were too, "George Blahman and Yosho Masaki, you two and one other of your choosing will take this foolish girl to the Dauphin in Chinon," then he looked at George, "this will be the last service I will accept from both of you."

"I will do as you say, Lord Baudricourt," George turned to face Baudricourt and inclined his head in acknowledgment of the man's authority.

"I will follow your orders, Lord Baudricourt," Yosho performed the same act as his friend did.

"I believe the Welshman, Thomas Hide, will serve well as the third man for the Maid's escort," George's face was full of delight.

The Maid studied the two men for a minute before saying, "I will accept these three men, my lord, for they have the character of angels."

Katsuhito clamped down on his emotions to prevent his shock for showing, her penetrating gaze made the young prince feel like she could strip away all falsehoods to reach down to find a person's true self. The black-haired man quickly glanced at George and found his friend's face full of acceptance.

"Go," Baudricourt sounded angry, "Go and come what may."

Katsuhito and George walked over to the Maid, who turned around and walked out of the audience room with the two men in step with her. Once they were a few yards down the hall, the brown-haired girl faced her escort and her manly pose dropped from her features to be replaced by a mixture of relief and girlish excitement as both her hands' fingertips barely touched George's and Katsuhito's chins, "I was told there would be many to aid me in righting the wrongs done to my king, but I must confess I wasn't prepared for the sight of such goodness of heart I found in the two of you, my two guardian angels."

"Yosho, you make a great window," George's words brought Katsuhito back to the present and the prince half turned and saw his blond-haired companion with the handcannon unsung from his back and loading the weapon. Since arriving in Europe the black-haired Jurain had seen several handcannons but this one George had specially built for him while the two stopped in Venice. The iron weapon was the usual length, about five feet long, but it was three times the mass with a two-inch bore with rings of iron down the whole length to reinforce the barrel, a couple of times Katsuhito hefted the weapon and guessed it weighted close to one-hundred-and-fifty-pounds yet George was able to fire it from a braced or kneeling position with little recoil. The prince also saw the harpoon at his friend's feet with a coil of silk rope attached to an eye just below the blade, he also noted the harpoon's other end was a flat saucer about the size of the handcannon's bore and there were one-inch fins along the harpoon's length. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what George was going to do with the harpoon so Katsuhito asked, "Do you think it can reach the cathedral?"

"As I told you when we put this rescue plan together, a triple charge in the handcannon should be enough to hit what I will be aiming at," then George gave Katsuhito a wily look, "although if the harpoon goes through a window, we could end up with a whale of a priest."

Katsuhito grinned then came the sound of a loud click and Caesar proclaimed, "That was the last one."

"Thank you," the Maid said as she leaned forward and kissed Caesar's right cheek, the Lombardman blushed and mumbled incoherent words. During her first months in the world of men-of-arms, the Maid was charismatic with the common soldiers and nobles but she was wry and standoffish with the men on a personal level, only letting her guard down when she was alone with Katsuhito or George, allowing the two men to see the nightmarish fears that haunted her sleep and how her faith in God was the only thing that kept her sane when the sight of dead children and the smell of burnt flesh would rob her of it. Yet as the months passed the men who made up her bodyguard also received gentle kisses upon the cheek for the sacrifices they performed for her, a reminder of that under all her manly bravo, she cared for them as a sister, a daughter or a mother would. 

"Could you hold this for me?" George glanced at the handcannon then back to Yosho.

"Yes, George," Katsuhito agreed then made a pretense of the weapon's weight staggered him as George put it in black-haired man's hands. Like most Juraijins, the red-eyed man didn't want outsiders to know about the biotech augmentations that were performed on a bondmate's body so they could fully use Tsunami children's powers. Furthermore it would be dangerous for Katsuhito to reveal his powers, awe and fear weren't something that the prince desired because he wanted acceptance, respect and love. There were a couple of times in Scotland where the Jurain used his powers but as the saying goes, dead men tell no tales and George accepted his explanations for the strange happenings without batting an eye, which sometimes caused Katsuhito to wonder if his friend had a blind spot when it came to his friends or just didn't care about the methods as long as things got done. Now the prince watched his blond-haired friend pull out a six-inch long brown clinical object, put it in his mouth as he bent down to the candle's flame and took several puffs to get the end burning red before he let out a big cloud of white smoke and handed it to the Maid, asking, "Hold this, Maid."

The Maid made a face, nevertheless she took the burning piece of rolled dried leaves, her calloused right hand held it out like a dead rat. Katsuhito couldn't stop his smile thanks to his commander's little performance, as he knew from experience that the tall man would use jokes and irreverence as a way to lighten the stress. On the other hand the odorous haze that the prince smelled left a sour taste in his mouth. For twenty-two years Katsuhito had watched his friend light up a cigar of hashish before battle to use it as a match for his handcannon and at times, enemy soldiers would pull up at the sight of smoke issued out of George's mouth, like he was a dragon about to spool out fire and brimstone, a deadly hesitation for them.

"Yosho, brace the gun against the floor," George stood on the side of the weapon as the prince went to one knee and held the gun's rear to the cold stone. The tall man picked up the harpoon and rammed it down the bore so the flat end was tight against the black powder charge, then he knelt and assumed the same position as his black-haired friend, sighted down the barrel to aim the instrument of destruction, used both hands to adjust the handcannon up a little and then he looked up at the Maid, saying, "Maid, will you do the honors."

Having seen George fire the handcannon in practice as well as in battle, the Maid put some dignity into her steps as she walked over to stand behind Katsuhito, not trusting the handcannon's recoil wouldn't knock her on her butt if she stood behind it, leaned a little to put the hot point of the smelly cigar into the fire hole.

From his guard position down at the foot of the tower, Thomas heard the boom of the handcannon, "That's my signal to get moving," thought the Welshman as he made tracks up the tower's inner staircase. The whole fortress seemed to think so too as shouts of alarm came from the night watch along the outer wall, touch light spilled from windows and the storm of leather boots upon granite echoed everywhere. Yosho tied the rope to an empty touch holder in the room when Thomas arrived, breathlessly saying, "It . . . looks like someone . . . stepped on a . . . hornet nest out there."

"Caesar," George used a commanding tone while he took the cigar from the Maid.

"I'm ahead of you, Captain," the Lombardman pulled out of a medium-sized bag four mechanical contraptions of twin grips and wheels gave one to Yosho, George and Thomas and kept one for his own use

"Thomas, you first," George ordered, "I need someone down there to secure the area."

"Are you sure, Captain?" a crafty grin on Thomas' face as he stood three feet from the window, placed the mechanical device on top of the rope and took a firm hold on the grips, "it's not to test the strength of your weapon's strike."

"Go," George's lopsided grin showed he hadn't thought of it in those terms until the Welshman mentioned it, "just don't lose your grip."

"I always wanted to fly," Thomas ran toward and jumped out the window, then his faded words could be heard, "but aren't I going in the wrong direction." The noise below and the torchlight prevented the guards from the sight of man seemingly flying twenty feet over the outer wall.

George waited a few minutes as he noted the silk rope didn't break before saying over his left shoulder, "Caesar, you and the Maid are next," then at Katsuhito, "Yosho, get your dog ready."

Caesar did the same thing as Thomas did but the Maid hesitated at putting her arms around his neck, at which point George commented, "Maid, just treat him like a log," then he added with a wink, "and if you feel something poking you, just treat it like a knotting piece of wood."

This earned George a withering glare from the Maid, who immediately locked her hands around Caesar's neck and her strong legs around his stomach, then she said to the Lombardman, "My voices said I would be freed but I didn't know my rescuers would have such noble souls," then she once more stared angrily at the dusky man, "or be led by my black angel."

Katsuhito's amusement at his friend's words was cut short when he heard the sound of a dozen footfalls on the stairs, "George!"

"Be off!" Caesar instantly obeyed his Captain's order and disappeared into the darkness of the window while George pulled out two grenades and used his cigar to light them. With speed the blond man was at the door and threw his bombs down the stairs. Words of fear came from below followed by two body-killing explosions.

"It's the Maid!" Katsuhito recognized the voice of the Grand Inquisitor coming from somewhere down below, "She's called Satan's army to set her free!"

"Yosho, it's yours and the dog's turn to leave," George lit another pair of black grenades as he shouted to the black-haired man, Katsuhito had used Harry's harness to tie the animal to his shoulders and chest, Harry had done this with his master before and knew not to struggle.

Katsuhito followed his comrades' route out of the window at the same time he heard two more blasts, unlike the other two and the dog he found the buzzing of bolts and shouts of angry fear greeted them as they flew over the fortress to their destination, where Thomas and Caesar caught them before they collided with the cathedral's wall, where the Welshman said while rubbing his right shoulder, "You really don't want to go to Mass this way, Yosho, my shoulder isn't going be the same."

Katsuhito unleashed Harry and started to turn when the prince's motion was cut short by the silk rope falling onto his left shoulder. Horror rendered them speechless except for a bare whisper from the Maid, "No," her sight never leaving the central tower. Katsuhito took a step forward then another with Harry at his side but all thoughts of saving his friend ended when the tower's windows flashed with bright light again and again before a thunderous explosion blew out the middle of turret, momentarily lifted the upper part like a rocket before it came crashing down on the lower section. The Maid turned from the awful sight and buried her head in Caesar's shoulder, his hands held her as she cried.

"I think the Captain wouldn't be happy if Joan gets caught," Thomas was the first to speak.

"You're right, Thomas," Katsuhito's voice thick with grief as he turned away from the continuous exploding inferno and helped Caesar with the Maid as Thomas led them into the darkness.

Three hours had passed since the rescue of the Maid and the three men, the one girl-woman and one dog once more found themselves in the Roman ruins located underneath the city, with the Maid's mind still numbed by shock. This section of the ruins was once the storm drains for the ancient city that only a few knew about. George had drawn a map for Yosho and the others to use in case the group got separated, now it was the only means to find the rest of the Maid's bodyguard and leave by boat from this place of unforgivable sorrow. Neither Yosho nor his companions made any noise as they worked their way over broken stones, slime-covered river rocks and small pools of stagnated water, but as they rounded a corner Yosho, who was in the lead, saw a sight that caused him to bark out an order, "Thomas to the back, Caesar protect Joan," Harry let a low growl as sensitive nose smelled the copper odor of blood. 

Suddenly the Maid pushed her way forward to stand with Katsuhito, her face alit with rage at the sight of the still warm bodies of the rest of her bodyguard, then she shouted, "Who is responsible for killing my men?"

"I am," came an elegant French-speaking male voice from behind five-foot remains of a wall and a man in a fancy grab of lime green pants, a vest of meadowlark yellow and a shirt of Prussian blue with bellowing sleeves along with an elaborate craved headband, in his right hand was a lightsabre made of same material as the headband.

Thomas and Caesar rushed to stand beside Katsuhito, Harry lifted his lips to show a mouth of sharp teeth and Yosho moved to place the Maid behind him as he said, "Banmukade."

The man with the long sea green locks bowed to the prince, saying in Nihongo, "I see my fame has reached the Oken Kazoku Jurai," then his eyes looked at Caesar and Thomas with contempt, "even those on this backwater planet," his words stopped as three men followed him out from behind the fallen wall and took up positions paralleled to Banmukade, who nodded to them.

Thomas and Caesar knew a silent command when they saw one so both men dropped the torches from their hands and brought their crossbows up, already loaded, as their opponents pulled out pistols Yosho knew well, Dragoon H1948, a weapon preferred by hired killers for its idiot proof qualities. Cross-bolts and red plasma bolts crossed the distance between the two groups but the results were a certainty because the bolts impacted against hi-tech body armor while the beams left holes where hearts were once located, with one exception. The man at the far end of the line found out the one disadvantage in using the Dragoon H1948 when he missed Harry completely, it takes fifteen seconds for the weapon to reach its safety level to fire again, in that time Harry closed the distance and leaped upon the terrified man. Banmukade and the other two men made no move to help him as the dog's huge jaws ripped flesh and crushed bone, with a last bit of strength the dying man put the gun against Harry's ribcage and the gun finally went off. No scream came from Harry as the plasma impact knocked him of the dead man and the smoldering animal landed with horrible crunching sound.

Banmukade slowly frowned at his dead man and then looked at what was left of Harry, saying, "I wish Juraijin coins could buy such skill, such courage and such devotion."

Katsuhito spared a look at the Maid and found her white teeth clinched and her hands in tight fists as her eyes glared at the killer of her men, the prince returned his attention to the men in front of him and asked with his own hot anger, "May I ask why you have killed my comrades?"

"Quite simply really, Yosho-ojisama," Banmukade pleasantly replied as he held the lightsabre in front of his face, "I think they would have objected to me taking your head," a blue flame shot up to create a four-foot long blade.

"You seem certain of your victory," Katsuhito took out Tenchiken but left it inactive.

"Eighty-one heads decorate my trophy room," Banmukade carefully looked his weapon over as he switched into French, "plus the added satisfaction that your death will bring about the subjection of everyone upon this piece of dirt."

Katsuhito's eyes narrowed at his opponent's revelation, saying in French as he once more placed himself between the Maid and the green-haired assassin, "This is more than an assassination disguised as a dual."

"It will be made to look like these soldiers turned against you," Banmukade's teeth gleamed in the light of his weapon as he took delight in the building rage he saw in the Maid's face, "when their primitive minds marked you as a creature of their darkest fears."

"In the Royal Council of Jurai there would be cries for retribution for such a heinous crime," Katsuhito added as he commanded Tenchiken to life.

"Even your mother won't be able to stop the call for blood payment," Katsuhito noticed Banmukade shifting his feet, readying his six-foot body for his first attack, "and this world will have new rulers once it falls under the direct control of Jurai."

"SOL STAR POWER!" Every one of Katsuhito's Shinto trained Jurain senses went off like a four-alarm bell as the glow from the two lightsabres was overwhelmed by a golden brilliance that distorted every shadow in the underground passageway, then came the sound from just behind the prince, of boots against stone as someone strode purposely to his right and came to stand there. Yosho tried really hard to not act surprise, tried really hard to keep his gaze focused on Banmukade and his minions and not stare at the radiant young woman in a miniskirt uniform, her skin like bees' honey, her red tresses shimmered and moved like living flame and in the firm grip of her two hands was a sword with a five-foot-long blade. Katsuhito wanted them to think he witnessed this transformation before and that he knew the Maid was more than an Earth woman, she was the avatar of the sun that shined in this planetary system, she was Sailor Soldier Sol.

Katsuhito's pretense worked for both of Banmukade's men looked at each other like they were armed with spit guns while standing in front of a pack of stampeding elephants. Katsuhito also expected Banmukade's face to take on a sickly expression, instead the duelist's face had a devilish grin and pure rapture was in his voice as he took a step forward, "A Star Seed."

"Scum born from scum, a looter born from looters, a murderer born from murderers," the golden girl's words seemed to scorch the air before her mouth, "this world and all who seek sanctuary here are outside of your domain," her colorless eyes were like the sun's center, "by God's grace leave this world or burn forever in Hell's pit."

"Leave?" a surprised look on Banmukade's face, like it was the last thing he would think of, "why would I do something that silly, when before me stands a warrior out of the mists of legends," a demonic joy in his eyes, "I have a chance of a lifetime to duel a member of the greatest female warrior caste of all time."

Katsuhito's gallantry flared at Banmukade's words and he started to lean forward when the Maid's voice but not her voice called out, "No, he is mine!" The prince turned a little and found the golden girl giving him a courageous look as she added, "Keep his men from getting in my way," then the redhead gave him a pleading look, "but if I die, seek safety from such creatures as this man with those under my protection," Katsuhito heard pride in the voice of a woman dressed in a sailor fuku of sunlight white with braided stripes of the colors of the rainbow on her skirt, bows and collar, "they are good people of giving hearts and noble spirits."

"Oh, I'm sure my men can keep Yosho-ojisama busy until I'm ready for him," the looks on both of Banmukade's minions showed they didn't like the sound of those words but they still stepped away from their employer and readied themselves. Katsuhito decided that two less scum of the galaxy was a good idea and so he too matched their movement. As Katsuhito and his opponents eyed each other, the prince caught an odor amongst the dank and decay, the smell of burning hashish.

Banmukade kept grinning at Sailor Sol as he gave her a deep bow before saying in French, "Ladies first."

"SAILOR SOL FLAMING SWORD!" The golden girl charged forward while pulling her sword back for an overhead swing, the blade burst into a red blaze, then at the last moment the redhead jumped slightly to her left and changed her swing to a right-to-left cut. With a grin still on his face, Banmukade pivoted right on his left heel and stepped back as his right hand stabbed out with the lightsabre, both blades met with a thunderous clap. Both Katsuhito and Banmukade's men were momentarily stunned by the eardrum blowing noise but someone else was just waiting for this opportunity.

George cradled his handcannon in the croak of his right arm as he fell prone on top of the pile of column stones he had been hiding behind. He swiftly sighted down the barrel before he took the cigar from his mouth with his left hand and put it to the powder hole while shouting in Nihongo, "Tame!"

Katsuhito could barely hear George's shout above the ringing in his ears and the same was true of Banmukade's minions, only the one closest to George made a stumbling turn toward the source. Flame licked out of the end of the barrel along with smoke and the man facing George spun off his feet and dropped to the ground, the body armor he wore did him little good for most of his face was gone thanks to a one-inch lead ball slamming through it. The other man tried to struggle through the shock of seeing his partner's head turned into mush but his problem was ended when Katsuhito closed upon him and used a right-to-left flat slice with Tenchiken to send the man's head tumbling off his shoulders.

It wasn't clear if Banmukade or Sailor Sol knew of the change of circumstances outside of their duel for when the golden girl touched down she used her landing crouch to make a leaping backward spin so her body would pass over Banmukade and allow her to make two quick downward cuts. Banmukade was already facing Sailor Sol when she came flying back and used a downward parry to handle the young girl's first swing and then with three swift steps to his left the green-haired man avoided the second blow.

During this last attack George rolled off of the stone pile and walked over to Katsuhito, who commented, "You look like the cat let out of the bag."

Indeed George did, his leather armor looked like it had been attacked by leather-loving moths, his black skin had a more crispy quality and soot blackened his hair. George's only reaction to Katsuhito's words was to say, "We can't interfere."

Katsuhito heard the dull ache in George's tone so the black-haired man nodded, saying, "It is a legal challenge."

Sailor Sol landed on an intact marble altar of Apollo-Helios, where she stretched out her right hand, shouting, "SAILOR SOL SOLAR FLARE!"

George's gray eyes widen and the tall man tackled Katsuhito to the ground as an expanding wave of fire came off of her white-gloved hand but Banmukade didn't move a muscle and it was obvious why he hadn't when his headband blazed bluish-white and a translucent shield of the same color appeared in front of him, the part of the red wave that would have hit him was absorbed by the shield while the rest of the wave caused marble stones to crack and half remaining walls to crumble. Automatically Katsuhito snapped his own Ko-Oh-Yoku wing over both his and George's prone bodies and then dropped it once the fiery wave was gone. Both Yosho and George looked from ground level as Sailor Sol took three bouncy steps towards Banmukade before she jabbed multiple times her flaming sword point at his flat stomach.

Banmukade parried each stab while saying, "Truly, the legends don't lie about the warrior skills of the Star Seeds."

Katsuhito silently agreed with Banmukade's estimation but with heart-heavy shame for he remembered his history lessons, how the first Emperor of Jurai launched his invasion of neighboring solar systems without warning, how the protectors of those worlds were overwhelmed by the firepower of the Space Tree Ships, their citizens driven off their homeworlds to become refugees but it didn't end there, in a widening circle more solar systems fell to the Jurain blitzkrieg. Amongst those defenders of these worlds was a caste of warrior women, the Star Seeds, who fought with powers and skills that only the best Jurain bondmates could match. Also known as Sailor Soldiers, only their shattered numbers prevented the loss of bondmates and their Space Tree Ships from being too high, yet when a Sailor Soldier was killed, a replacement came from her system of origin. This development plus the level of losses to them brought the Emperor to a decision to use his ultimate weapon, a singularity beam. The weapon was simple, a transdimensional beam was fired into the core of the sun where a fusing between the sun's energy and the beam's temporal energy caused the sun's gravity to increase tenfold, in-other-words an instant black hole. The weapon stood outside of the gravity well of the two targets it was used on: the yellow sun of Janus Epsilon and the red sun of Gaius Phi, the inhabitants of those suns and their orbiting planets died without knowing what killed them but Tsunami did and so did the rest of the Oken Kazoku Jurai. The night after the destruction of Gaius Phi, the Emperor was overthrown in a palace coup and the singularity beam weapon destroyed; the Emperor had murdered the scientists so the weapon couldn't be duplicated. The new Emperor and Tsunami tried to diplomatically repair the damage done to Jurai's relationships with the Star Seeds and the refugees but it was too late, the refugees refused to return to the planets taken by Jurai and the suns refused to protect the Jurain colonists moved to those captured systems. In the end the refugees along with their surviving Sailor Soldiers settled in solar systems whose own inhabitants were willing to accept them, these places were designated protected zones by Jurai and the budding Galactic Union. One of these solar systems was the birthplace of Katsuhito's mother, Earth. Now before Yosho's red eyes a war ended in a guilt-riddled truce was once more being fought for almost the same reasons, the ruthless cold logic of a Jurain noble was being faced by the courageous hot passion of a Sailor Soldier.

In two leaping steps Sailor Sol closed the distance between her and Banmukade, the pale-faced man went into a wide stance with his lightsabre leveled with the golden girl's chest but at the last moment when it looked like she was about to impel upon the glowing sword point, the golden girl cried out, "SAILOR SOL TELEPORT!"

Sailor Sol's body immediately vanished in colorful sparks only to appear just inches above and behind Banmukade, the redhead going into a flying forward flip so her two-handed sword swing could spit her opponent from ass-to-head. Banmukade must have had eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head for at the moment the Sailor Soldier reappeared the grinning man leaped left into a one-hand stance and then into his own twisting forward flip where he squarely landed on his feet, then the master swordsman made his first attack. Sailor Sol's landing had her facing away from Banmukade so as soon as Banmukade feet touched down he charged at the golden girl's exposed back with his lightsabre set to drive its point through her spine. It must have been his right foot splashing in a small pool of water that alerted the young girl because she barely ducked under the lightsabre and used the green-haired man's momentum and her Sailor Soldier's strength in turning maneuver where her left hand grabbed his shirt to fling him over her as she shouted, "SAILOR SOL SOLAR FIST!" A ball of light formed around her fist that held her sword. A flash of blue light where Sailor Sol's punch hit Banmukade's stomach clearly meant that most of the damage from the blow was taken by his Ko-Oh-Yoku shield while her throw allowed him the time to roll back up on his feet.

When Banmukade faced Sailor Sol, the golden girl stretched out her right hand, shouting, "SAILOR SOL SUNBURST!"

"Yosho, cover your eyes!" George's voice boomed in Katsuhito's ears.

Pinkish light burned through George's and Katsuhito's eyelids as the underground chamber was flashed with white light, both men opened their eyes but floating spots before their eyes fragmented the image of Sailor Sol's body jumping to the upper left of Banmukade to land on decaying marble stone where the then Sailor Soldier leaped straight at him with her plasma licking sword held high for a death blow. Banmukade couldn't have seen the golden girl coming at him yet his experienced instincts did and his sharp ears told him from which direction, the red-eyed man didn't even turn, he just held his lightsabre out to his right. 

"DAMN!" shouted George as he scrambled up onto his feet but Katsuhito just stared as they watched Banmukade's lightsabre pierce Sailor Sol's left ribcage and come out of her back as she landed on his right shoulder, a small cry and a surprised look were her first reaction but in a gathering of steely willpower she used Banmukade's shoulder to spring backwards. Ten feet away the golden girl landed while the pale man fell against one of the chamber walls but his face glowed with victory equal to his voice, "YES! I, Junji Banmukade, have bested a Star Seed," he stepped away from the wall and stood in haughty attitude, "my name will be listed amongst the illustrious heroes of our ancestors."

"Death hasn't taken me yet!" Fury blazed in Sailor Sol's colorless eyes despite the heart blood soaking her sailor fuku and caking her lips, in seconds the golden girl initiated her attack, her multi-colored-booted feet carried her forward in the same blurring speed while both hands held her sword out to her right.

Banmukade smirked at what he saw as Sailor Sol's obvious strategy, a doomed attempt to channel all of her remaining power into one last downward blow. Katsuhito saw how the pale man positioned his lightsabre to parry the blow, so sure of his estimation that he remained in his arrogant stance, then the prince took a quick look at George and found his friend's face fired with a look of anticipation.

Shock must have been the first thing Banmukade felt when Sailor Sol leaped at him in a tight clockwise twist, a maneuver that changed her sword swing into a left-handed downward slice, not one instinctive thought to parry the blow or summon his Ko-Oh-Yoku shield came from the green-haired man's brain in time to prevent the redhead's glowing sword from cleaving his right shoulder blade, down through his ribcage and out of his stomach. Banmukade stood motionless as Sailor Sol's spinning body sailed over him to landed hard upon the marble altar where she lay motionless, then green-haired man let out a hallowing scream as his body burst into flames and fell to the ground, the shrieks continued as George and Katsuhito ran to Sailor Sol but then his screams suddenly stopped.

George knelt on the right side of the altar where he tenderly gathered Sailor Sol's body in his arms while mournfully saying, "Oh, Kate."

Weak life came forth as Sailor Sol opened her eyes, her voice only a whisper, "So George, you guess who I am."

"When the Maid mentioned one of her 'voices' was Saint Catherine," a sad smile upon his lips, "I put two-and-two together."

"Joan's unselfish nobility made her a worthy bearer," then Sailor Sol slowly turned her head towards Katsuhito, who knelt on the left side of the altar, her drifting words continued, "Do not hate your life because I died, Yosho," the golden girl rolled her left hand open, "you have proven that a chivalrous spirit can still be found in some Jurain hearts."

"I owe a life debt to you," Yosho held Sailor Sol's left hand with both of his, "and me and my descendants will repay it."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Sailor Sol's lips, her voice saying, "Let this world remain as a place where the dispossessed can find a home and where the seekers of freedom can find a hope."

"It will be done," Yosho declared with all his heart.

Sailor Sol slightly nodded her red-haired head before she looked once more at George before saying, "the Druid Sun."

"I will take care of it," George promised as the tears started to fall.

"The Druid Sun goes to China," Sailor Sol's voice wavered, "from the rich soil of the Yellow River the next bearer will come."

"I . . . I . . . wish the other Sailor Soldiers . . . were here," George's words almost smothered by his grief.

"Their time to awaken has yet to come," her lips barely moving, "and you shouldn't grieve like the universe has ended, I and the others who become Star Seeds know the changes, the risks, and we bear them proudly."

Then Sailor Sol closed her eyes and her glowing image dissolved into that of the Maid's, her brown eyes open and her whispering voice filled their ears, "My guardian angel of light and my guardian angel of darkness are here."

"I'm sorry, Maid," George blurted out.

"Don't be," an angelic glow seemed to come from the Maid's face, "it is as my voices promised, I shall be freed from my prison and my feet will be led me to the City of God, where the unjust will find justice, where the weak will find strength and where the meek will find paradise."

"Take with you the knowledge that your sacrifice wasn't in vain," Katsuhito's voice sounded like the wind amongst the branches of the oldest oak upon the face of the Earth.

"We shall meet again in the house of the Lord," the look in the Maid's eyes took on a distant gaze, "where upon a table we shall eat manna from heaven and where we shall drink sweetwater," then the light in her eyes started to fade, "where we shall hug and kiss as brothers and sisters, as husbands and wives, as lo . . ."

Katsuhito reached over with his right hand to close the Maid's lifeless eyes as George's blond head sank to her blood drenched chest, his voice cried out, "I've lost both of them!"

"What?" a confused tone to Katsuhito's question.

"Nana," George's voice muffled said, "they forced her to wear Maid's manly clothes, they took her to the stake and burned her there as the Maid's surrogate," the tall man looked straight at Katsuhito, his eyes trapped by tears, "Nana didn't beg for mercy or scream that she wasn't the Maid, instead she glared defiantly at her English tormentors and cried out that her voices had told her the truth, she would be set free," then dusky man's head sank once more to rest on the Maid's stilled chest, "and . . . and there was . . . was no . . . nothing . . . I . . . I cou . . . could do to . . . save her."

Even now, five-hundred-years later, Katsuhito felt the tears in his eyes as he recalled how he and George took the Maid's body back to her hometown of Domremy, where on a moonless night they buried her in an unmarked grave within the church's graveyard, a simple country priest bribed to secrecy giving her the last rites. The elder also remembered how George was silent during the whole journey from Rouen, how only water touched his lips, how a man that became like a brother to the prince had once more become a brooding stranger and how on that night, after the priest had gone home, the Jurain faced the Earthling with a horde of questions only to discover that George wasn't there. The black-haired man stretched out his Jurain senses and found a shadowy figure near the entrance to the graveyard, a departing shape losing substance in the wisps of new spring fog. With a shout the prince dashed towards the vague form but no matter how fast his feet pounded the wet grass, no matter how much he called out, the image seemed to get further and further away until even his enhanced senses found nothing.  After days of searching failed to find any trace of his friend's departure, Katsuhito found sorrow was the only thing left for him here in the West, so he retraced his steps that brought him to this Christian land, the man of the stars went back to Nihon.

On his return to the Masaki Shrine, Katsuhito kept the promise he had made to Sailor Sol, he made contact with the Galaxy Police Academy with the objective to sponsor the brightest of his offsprings from his union with Natsumi as students. There he made an astounding discovery, Airi, the woman he fell in love with during his days as a Galaxy Academy student, the woman who had become his lover, was now the headmaster of the training grounds for future police officers despite the fact that unknown to the Jurain prince she gave birth to their love-child, a beautiful black-haired girl named Minaho. To Katsuhito's delight Airi found merit in his proposal, especially since it might lead to a thawing of relationship between Jurai and the Star Seeds. Minaho acted as go-between to get the paperwork done and in those close moments between father and daughter, the young woman with the easy smile told him that Airi still loved him and the prince with some teasing encouragement by his 'new' daughter, realized he too still loved her. When Airi came to Earth to finalize the agreement allowing the children of Katsuhito and Natsumi to enter the Galaxy Police Academy, the two were married under the branches of Funaho, the exchange of vows witnessed by Masaki Minaho Jurai, Kamiki Seto Jurai and Masaki Kaji, the first Earthling Masaki to go to the Galaxy Police Academy. The newlyweds knew their responsibilities would require Katsuhito to remain on Earth and Airi to remain at the Galaxy Police Academy, yet on those vacation days a certain heavenly wife would leave her duties behind to stay with her earthbound husband and during one of these 'visits' a girl babe was conceived, her name was Achika.

It was times like these when Katsuhito remembered how his bereavement for Sailor Sol and the Maid brought to him the love of Minaho, Achika and Airi. It was because of this discovered love that Katsuhito kept his promise to Sailor Sol with unbinding resolve for no matter in what time or place an Earthling Masaki resides, even when the person is employed by Jurai, the Galaxy Police or some independent organization, he/she carried within his/her heart the duty to help any Star Seed and to protect the Earth. Now the wheel has turned a full circle in Katsuhito's life and once more a Star Seed, a being he believed to be the new Sailor Sol, has entered the lives of the people he held dear.

"Will Sailor Sol accept the way I've kept my promise?" a long sigh came from Katsuhito's lips as he held up a charcoal sketch he kept in a hidden compartment in his sleeping quarters, next to his pictures of Airi, Minaho, Funaho, Azusa and Misaki, "Oi, how I wish old friend that your spirit will rejoice in her return."

"Whose return?" asked an eight-year-old voice.

It took all of Katsuhito's cool demeanor to lay down the sketch before he faced a sight that brought a grin to his leathery face for just outside stood a ponytail-plastered-face Sasami, an amber-eyes-peeking-through-soaked-cyan-locks Ryoko and a cabbit-imitating-a-soaked-cat Ryo-ohki, an ever increasing pool of lake water at the two girls waterlog-socked feet. "I was taking to my mei, your distant cousin, Kiriko," a good-natured tone in the priest's voice, "she called to let me know she was going to visit the family shrine next weekend."

This news cranked up the joy knob on Sasami's heart and it showed in her starry eyes, on-the-other-hand Ryoko leaned forward to look about the office while saying, "Ome, guji, where did the Skuld-chibi go?"

"Skuld-san said something about needing to find her sister," Katsuhito replied before he changed the subject when he noticed Sasami started to shiver, "but right now, Ryoko-dono, I think you should get Akaruime home and into a hot bath before the autumn air puts a chill in her skin."

Ryoko's posture went all-robotic, as did her English words, "At your command."

Sasami didn't understand Ryoko's words but still she giggled at Ryoko's performance which kicked up in volume when the dripping-cyan-haired woman roughly picked up the dripping-blue-haired girl with both arms before the uchu kaizoku added in the same robotic English, "I will bring her back for Shichi-Go-San practice," Katsuhito could tell that Ryoko was having a hard time keeping a straight face and even after the trio faded from sight, he was sure she was laughing up a storm in the furo.

With quiet normalcy once more inhabiting the Masaki Shrine, Katsuhito noted by the sun's position that it was close to noon, the clock next to the telephone also help remind him, so he pushed the on button of his ancient Zenith radio while thinking, 'It's time to catch Kawatta-san's noontime program.'

********

Nagai High School

Tenchi was in his usual place to have his lunch, in his homeroom not far from the portable stereo that Oyuki would set on her desk to entertain everyone but unlike other times the curly black-haired girl let out a disappointed huff when she heard the WHOSHI DJ say, "Kawatta-san had to make his annual trek to the insane asylum and won't be let out of his straitjacket for the next five days, but he did leave a few selections to fill his noonday program, so without anymore ado, we present his first gem."

"You know if it wasn't for the fact Kawatta-san the top DJ in Honshu," Oyuki pouted at having her noontime routine spoiled, "He'd have a one-way air ticket back to the West."

"Actually, wouldn't that be east," Tujika pointed to compass east, "I mean it is that way."

"Aaaa, East, West," Oyuki rolled her eyes, "I want Strange Days!"

"Oyu-chan, you're what the Amerikajins call a moonbeam?" Tujika teased with mock astonishment.

"Iie, Tuj-kun, I think you mean a Trekkie," Suu, a friend of Tujika and Oyuki, jumped into the teasing.

"KIMA (YOU)!" Oyuki screamed as she went for Suu, who bolt from the room with a wide grin, Tujika wasn't so quick for he found ninety-five pounds of female fury trying to strangle him.

Tenchi laughed at the improvisation and things calm down in the next few minutes that the shorthaired boy could hear the DJ introduce the next song, "this next song is a hit single from the unbreakable duo of Takada Yumi and Orikasa Ai, here is Bleeding Heart:

(Y) I want to tell you about my true love

(A) His love that make me pure

(Y) So fine he is in the morning

(A) So fine he is at midnight

(Y) Maybe soon he will take my hand

(A) And make his heart beat inside of me

(Y) I need to tell him of my love

(A) A love that chains me to him.

Chorus (Y & A singing in harmony)

I got a man, won't stay all day

I got a man, won't give true love

I got a man, keeps me drunk all the time

I say I got a man who won't be true

(Y) On quiet days we go up to the shrine

(A) Where wisdom resides under gray hairs

(Y) We ask for blessings from the Lord

(A) And guidance for our hearts

(Y) My man looks so fine

(A) My heart stops when he smiles for me

(Y) Yet when I hold my heart out to him

(A) He's not there to take it

Chorus

I got a man, won't stay all day

I got a man, won't give true love

I got a man, keeps me drunk all the time

I say I got a man who won't be true

(Y) In the home of my true love

(A) Where I watch him with the other girls

(Y) I wonder if his heart will be mine

(A) Or does his heart belong to them

(Y) Doesn't he know he carried me from my throne

(A) And freed my heart from its prison

(Y) Can't he feel my heart beating for him?

(A) Dawn, Noon, Dusk and Night

Chorus

I got a man, won't stay all day

I got a man, won't give true love

I got a man, keeps me drunk all the time

I say I got a man who won't be true

As the Chorus ended, Tenchi heard Robert O'Neil say, "I wouldn't want to be in that guy's shoes," the blond-haired youth's Nihongo words full of knowing as he sat in his seat, "the sharp shards from those broken hearts could cut out his heart."

Tenchi grinned at Robert before he said, "Ara . . . I don't know, I think any man would count himself lucky to have two girls loving him that much," then his voice slowed as his grin soften to a thoughtful look, "let alone just one."

Robert saw the restrained look on Tenchi's face and grinned hugely, "So one of those girls did offer to ride your uma (horse)," the Irishman ducked under his desk as Tenchi threw a half-eaten rice ball at his friend's head and came back up with more words, "or maybe two of them offered to give you a full body massage with just their . . . Ouch!" the last word lost because Tenchi's right foot crunched Robert's left foot.

"I think that old igirisujin (British) saying could be applied to you, Robert-kun," Tenchi took satisfaction at Robert pained look, "you know about the Amerikajin being overpaid, oversexed and over here."

Robert pulled his foot up and rubbed the place Tenchi had nailed while saying, "Tenchi-kun, I thought you shrine boys knew how to control your temper," then the blond boy gave his friend a sideway look, "or has one of them put her waraji (straw sandals) in your bed."

"I wonder if I can make your right foot as flat as your left foot," Tenchi eyed the afore mentioned appendage. 

"Jodan, jodan," Robert waved his hands in surrender, Tenchi gave a pleased look before he picked up chopsticks to continue eating the lunch Sasami had prepared for him. Robert unwrapped a rice ball that his uncle had made for him, took a bite and chewed while saying, "Gomen, for giving you such a hard time, Tenchi-kun but I wanted to make sure what Hojo-kun said was true."

"I told you this morning, Robert-kun," Tenchi held a pickled plum in his chopsticks between him and Robert, "I treat my guests with all the hospitality a host is suppose to give, nothing more, nothing less," at this point Tenchi recognized the name Robert used and asked, "How is Hojo-kun?"

"He's fine," a clever look appeared on Robert's pale face, "although he was more concern with how you were doing since he hadn't seen you since elementary school."

Sorrow laced through Tenchi's soul as he remembered those years just after his mother's death, how his grandfather's strong love kept the five-year-old from pulling into a shell but even so, he remembered how he bore his sorrow silently.

Robert saw the agony on Tenchi's face before carefully saying, "So Hojo-kun was right about how your okasan's death affected you."

Tenchi didn't want to talk about those days, the daily torture of going to class, his mother's funeral, the constant fear that he was in some way responsible for her death and the obsession to not make friends, more people for him to care for, more people for him to watch as they die, more people to cause him grief. It took painful effort for Tenchi to speak, "Hojo-kun forced his way into my life. I didn't want him or anyone to call me their friend but Hojo-kun wouldn't take no for an answer," a smile appeared on Tenchi's face as his mind's eye saw a boy who would wear geta to school, the clacking of their wooden soles on the tile caused much annoyance amongst the teachers, "he taught me to laugh again and helped me remember why I loved my okasama so much."

"Even so, Hojo-kun said you kept your distance from the girls at school," Robert's blue eyes focused on the pickled plum Tenchi continued to hold with his chopsticks.

"Hojo-kun called me a mama's boy na?" Tenchi smiled as he remembered his strange friendship with Nagauji Hojo.

"Ee, Hojo-kun thought you didn't want to feel affection for another girl," a look of knowing on Robert's face, "because none of them equaled the perfection of your okasan."

"That was part of it," Tenchi admitted as he started to put the pickled plum to his lips but stopped as he added, "but by the time I got into junior high school, I was extremely shy around girls."

"And Hojo-kun wasn't there to help you," Robert guessed before adding, "you know he is still angry that his parents sent him to a private school."

"Hojo-kun is a giraffe's child," Tenchi grinned as he remembered the day Hojo found out that he and Tenchi would be going to different junior high schools, how his friend appeared on Nobuyuki's doorstep, where Hojo declared he had run away from home to be with Tenchi. It had taken most of the night for Tenchi to convince his brown-eyed friend to go home before his parents discovered he was missing. Sadness crept into Tenchi's grin, "I knew our close friendship would become distant but his musical ability was the level of Mozart."

"Maybe you and Hojo-kun should get together," Robert suggested after he took another bit from his rice ball.

"Mo, Robert-kun," Tenchi shook his head, then the shorthaired boy realized he couldn't tell the truth, he didn't want Hojo to get involved in what was developing at the Masaki residence, so he said, "Hojo-kun . . . ano . . . is in his last year of high school and doesn't need me to mess up his life as a world class classical composer."

"Hmm . . . so you being a mama's boy developed into being bashful around girls," Robert finished off his rice ball, "and thanks to puberty you felt dirty because you realized your okasan was just as much a girl as they were."

Tenchi gulped and stopped his mouth from biting into the pickled plum, the brown-eyed youth realized that Robert was right, it was just the girls he saw didn't measure up to his mother and he felt unclean because of his strong attraction to his dead mother. 

Robert saw Tenchi's reaction so he added with a strong right-hand grip on his friend's left shoulder, "Tenchi-kun, you shouldn't let it bother you, all boys want to marry their mothers while all girls want to marry their fathers," the Irishman squeezed his friend's muscular shoulder, "its natural for our image of the perfect mate to be one of our parents."

"You . . . you really think so?" the arm that held Tenchi's chopsticks dropped to his desk, the pickled plum forgotten.

"After the explosion, I and my brother were in therapy for months before they finally allowed us to come out here to live with our uncle," Robert's blue eyes became a little bluer, "so I'm just telling you what they told me."

Tenchi digested what Robert had told him before saying, "This is kind of heady stuff for a seventeen-year-old to think about."

"I remember you told me your otousan married your okasan when they were still in high school," a sly look on Robert's face, "so he didn't have much trouble with it."

"Okasan and otousan knew each other since they were kids," Tenchi knew Robert was leading him on but to what he didn't know, "so it wasn't unusually for them to marry so early."

"So Nihonjin men don't marry when they're going to high school?" Robert's curiosity was perked.

"Iie," Tenchi shook his head, "not until after vocational school or college," then Tenchi added when he saw his blond friend's questioning look, "most grooms want to show their worthiness to their bride's family by already having a steady job."

"And your ojiisan was already impressed with your otousan to allow him to marry his daughter," Robert nodded his head then his clever look was back, "but now you have a problem or should I say five problems."

This quick switch back to Tenchi's inner problems left the tanned shouting, "Robert-kun! Why do you think I have any interest in any of them beyond being a good host?"

"Because of the way you talk about them," a Cheshire Cat's smile on Robert's face, "they're not just guests or relatives to you, you respect them as girls."

"Yare-yare, I've already explained to you the circumstances around each of them," Tenchi fired back.

"Does that mean they haven't showed any feelings for you?" Robert enjoyed the way Tenchi's mouth flapped soundlessly, Tenchi wanted to say no but he remembered how Mihoshi hugged him, how Ayeka kissed him at the train station, how Sasami looked up at him and how Ryoko offered her body to him, then Robert asked, "and that's the problem na?"

"Robert-kun, I think you talk too much?" replied Tenchi flinty.

"And what will you do when your otousan finds someone to love again," Robert pulled his feet in so Tenchi couldn't stump them again, "will you accept her or deny her?"

This stopped Tenchi's temper cold for he knew his father's attraction to Scully as well as his mother's gentle friendship with the redhead and how his mother bonded all three of their hearts together. 'Otousan has found someone to love again,' the images of Ryoko, Mihoshi and Ayeka flashed in his mind, 'maybe I can too.'

The bell for the ending of the launch period ringed and brought Tenchi back to earth but before he could pop the pickled plum into his mouth, Robert ducked in and deftly took the purple vegetable with his pearly teeth."

"Tame! That's mine!" Tenchi shouted out as he pointed his chopsticks at the retreating Irishman.

"Just consider it payment for my advice," Robert artfully dodged Tenchi's empty bento box, "I'll have my secretary set the time for your next session."

Only the appearance of the Physical Science teacher kept Tenchi from going after Robert.

********

Yashi No Ki Udon Shop

"So you're sure of what you saw in the assailant's face, Nakayama-san?" Aoi asked.

"Hai, keisatsukan," Nakayama Mitsutoshi's voice was as polite as Aoi's, "it looked like she was crying."

In the young man's room upstairs from his family's noodle shop, Mulder noticed hardness in Nakayama's stance and it suggested to the FBI agent the young man had no respect for the officers. When the trio had first entered the room and during Nakayama's recapping of his encounter with the prime suspect, Mulder had noticed several discolored spots along the bedroom walls, which suggest framed items had hung on those walls for a long time and only recently removed. Another piece of information that a look from Ryoko brought his attention was the box of trophies that could be barely seen in the back of the closet. At this point Mulder asked, "How long have you been a Guardian Angel?"

"Two years, sir," Nakayama didn't wait for Aoi to translate Mulder's question and he spoke in faintly accented English.

Nakayama had relaxed his posture when he turned to the American, this plainly showed the youth did have respect for police officers, just not those from his own country. "Why did you become a Guardian Angel?"

Nakayama glanced uncomfortable at Ryoko, ever since the three officers entered his family's oden shop, the black-haired twenty-year-old had taken a liking to the pink-suited woman, now it seemed like he didn't want to say anything that might hurt the ample lady's feelings. Ryoko noticed it, saying good-naturedly in Nihongo, "Ne ne! Don't worry about me, Mitsu-san, I'm a tough girl!"

"A regular Mae West," Mulder grinned at the smirk his words brought to Ryoko's sharp face, the uchu kaizoku knew very well that her 'partner' was wisecracking about.

Nakayama composed himself before answering in English, "I joined the Guardian Angels after my sister was knifed by a heroin addict," the young man's black eyes became hard as he glanced several times at Aoi, "because my sister was drunk at the time, people just walked by her as she pleaded for help," his tone became stone hard, "by the time someone called the police and they got to her, my sister had bled to death," Mulder saw the pain on Aoi's face at the man's polite angry words, "my sister wasn't a drunken slut, she was coming home from a party at a nearby disco, in two weeks she was going to Harvard Medical School," his voice had a cracked stone sound, "she was going to become a gynecologist," both Ryoko and Mulder moved at the same time and each caught the collapsing Nakayama by the armpits and carried him to his Western-styled bed, Aoi just stood there but Mulder saw by her body language she was fighting to keep from running out of the room.

With Mulder and Ryoko on either side of him, Nakayama slowly gained control of his emotions, "Sor . . . Sorry, I'm better now."

"So you became a Guardian Angel for vengeance," Mulder heard Ryoko's voice catch when the ample woman said the last word.

"No," Nakayama glared at Aoi, the fire back in his eyes, "I did it because I didn't want any other woman to die like my sister."

"You could've joined the police," Mulder pointed out.

"The police," the polite veneer was gone from Nakayama's voice, "they hide in their offices instead of patrolling, they fill their guts with food instead of helping people and only leave their police boxes when ordered," then he picked up the red beret from the lamp stand next to his bed and showed it to the three officers, "the Guardian Angels do patrols, make sure drunk women get home and give cards to addicts with phone numbers where they can get help," a fanatic's determination in his next words, "we show the colors to make rapists and muggers think twice before they attack innocent people."

"Yet you didn't stop the suspect running from the fire," Mulder didn't like how Nakayama made sure everything he said was aimed directly at Aoi.

"I . . . I was scared shitless by her," Nakayama looked down at his blue-socked feet with shame evident on his face, "besides I didn't know a crime been commented."

"True, people just normally exit a room by using the window," Mulder was going to turn Nakayama's fanatic fire onto himself, the young man's face became more miserable.

"Is there anything else you want to add?" Aoi spoke with a shaky voice.

"Iie, iie," Nakayama sighed with a heavy heart.

The three officers left the room to enter the hallway where Mulder and Ryoko turn to the downward staircase that would take them to the noodle shop but Aoi faced the other direction. Mulder's pale green eyes saw how Aoi's shoulders tremble and her arms hugged her slim body. It didn't take an anvil falling on Mulder's head to know that Nakayama's angry words hurt the Nihonjin policewoman but he first looked at Ryoko, who gave him a reassuring smile and a nod. With support from the woman he has affection for, Mulder stepped close to Aoi before saying, "Futaba, you shouldn't let the kid's words hurt you so much, it wasn't your fault his sister died or he has become a vigilante."

"I know," Aoi's voice barely above a whisper, "it's just I'm so use to people saying how well I do my job even though I'm a woman."

"A police officer needs a thick skin when working homicide," Mulder placed his right hand on Aoi's right shoulder, "there will be victims and families of victims who will say the police didn't do enough."

"I know," Aoi sounded stronger, her shoulders no longer shook, "when I became part of the exchange program and was assigned to homicide, I was determined to do what I've always done before, my best as an officer and as a woman."

"So homicide isn't your regular beat?" Mulder wanted to boost Aoi's confidence by bringing forward old successes.

"No, it isn't," Aoi turned around, her long brown hair framed a composed face, "I'm actually a traffic officer assigned to the Bokuta Police Precinct, but when my friends were forced into the exchange program and assigned to different precincts and departments, I volunteered for the program and I assigned to the homicide department of the Kurashiki Police Department."

"Exchange programs are meant to expand the professional experience of police officers and to get them out of the little niches they have created for themselves," Mulder smiled his knowing smile, "and I'm sure you'll return to your regular post a better officer because of this experience."

"I hope so," Aoi's eyes full of happy thoughts, "and thank you for your kind words."

"Just call me Lancelot de Lake," Mulder grinned as he let go of Aoi's shoulder, "I come to the aid of ladies in distress."

"Are you sure that's not Lancelot Link, monkey boy?" Ryoko decided to apply the brakes to this mutual support group of two before Mulder discovered something that the uchu kaizoku's sensitive nose had already told her about Futaba Aoi, "let's get to lunch, I'm starving."

"I agree, I'm hungry too," Mulder turned halfway, "how about you, Futaba?"

"I'm a little hungry," Aoi's voice was pleasant once more.

"I'm sure we can get a good meal from the noodle shop down below," Ryoko knew very well Mulder's opinion about Nihonjin food.

"I think we'll go to the nearest MacDonald's," Mulder quickly intervened before Aoi could agree with Ryoko, "my treat."

"Hey, I never turn down a free meal," Ryoko's Cheshire Cat's grinned was in full force.

"It would also be unladylike not to accept an offer from such an handsome man," Aoi seconded. Soon Mulder led the other two out of the oden shop and the American allowed the voices of teenyboppers to guide him to the closest fast food outlet.

******** 

Notes:

Me and my big mouth: Once more I'm forced to end a chapter where I don't want to due to length limitation. Why? Because when I was halfway through the chapter, I realized I hadn't done a flashback with Katsuhito/Yosho and I decided I wanted to give him a logical reason for sending the brightest and the best of his descendants to the Galactic Academy, where his second wife, Airi, could help train and take care of them. I had wanted to tag on a GXP story at the end of this chapter but I'm going have to wait until the chapter seven.

I also want to apologize for how long it took me to write this chapter. I simply lost track of time. 

Storyline:

Joan De Arc/The Maid: When I decided to do a Katsuhito/Yosho flashback, I quickly decided that it would cover some period after he came to Earth. Since a lot of people have done fanfics covering his first few years on this planet, I concentrated on a period after his first wife, Natsumi, died. At first I thought to do a Braveheart story with Katsuhito in Scotland fighting with Wallace but this was ruled out when I discovered that Natsumi had lived 147 years (its seems her exposure to Funaho-Ki had a beneficial effect on her aging). While this kept me out from giving an accurate version of Wallace, it did give the opportunity to retell the story of one of the greatest women warrior of the world, Joan De Arc. To create a realistic image of the 15th Century France, I drew on my own knowledge of the Hundred Year War and on several web sites, this included the on-line Encyclopedia of Catholic Saints and the one-hundred-and-eighty-page transcript of the Trial of Joan De Arc. Many of the events I describe in this part did take place and several of the Maid's words did come from her lips, the imaginary parts of this tale are her rescue and the destruction of the Rouen Castle's central tower. Due to the fact Joan wasn't publicly burned-at-the-stake, there were rumors of her still being alive and at least two woman came forward declaring themselves to be the Maid. Because of the terror the English and the Burgundians had for Joan De Arc (they believed her to be a witch and a heretic) and the timid nature of Charles VII of France, it is doubtful a surrogate was burned in her place. As for Joan's voices we can only have faith and her assurance that they came from God. It was by the fire of her martyrdom that France was forged into a nation. 

GXP and the Third OVA Season: The one advantage I have over other Tenchi Muyo fanfiction writers is this crossover series covered adventures that happen in between the already existing OVA episodes, so this allows me the chance to incorporate new information from both GXP and the Third OVA. So far there haven't been any earthshaking revelations:

1)  Katsuhito/Yosho is married to Airi, the young woman he fell in love while going to the Galaxy Academy and they had two daughters: Minaho and Kiyone, Tenchi's mother (for this series, I'm using Achika for the name of Tenchi's mother so to not confuse readers and because I've introduced Mihoshi's former partner as Kiyone).

2) With Airi's help, Katsuhito/Yosho has been sending the best and the brightest of his Earthling descendents to the Galaxy Police Academy, one of these was Kiriko Masaki.

3) It seems that Jurai support multiple wives for at least its royal family members. Since I've only got bits and pieces of information from people who have watched raw footage of the episodes, I don't know if they gave a reason for this behavior. The only reason I can think of is the low birth rate amongst bondmates. Since all Jurai royal members are bondmates to Tsunami's children, I noticed there is a low birth rate between bondmates. Seto had one children, Azusa had three children, Katsuhito/Yosho had two children (yes, I believe Airi is a bondmate to one of Tsunami's children) and this is over a period of several hundred years, while at the same time the True Tenchi Novels have hinted that Seto had romantic relationships before she married and Katsuhito/Yosho seemed to had fathered several children with his first wife, Natsumi. This could explain why Azusa decreed that Jurains should marry non-Jurains, it wasn't just to legitimize his marriage to Funaho but because it was necessary for the continue survival of the Royal Family of Juria.

4) Azusa's parents are high-ranking members within the Galaxy Police, Airi is the Headmaster at the Galactic Academy, and Minaho is an assistant to Seto. 

5) Mihoshi's mother, Mitoto, is a special agent for the Galaxy Police. Mitoto's official position is that of cleaning lady and she does busy herself with cleaning every inch of the main Galaxy Police Headquarters but she is included in high level meetings and she has a tendency to appear in the most unlikely places.

6) While Earth is a Jurain protection zone that doesn't mean the Galaxy Police don't have a presence here. Besides Mihoshi there are members of the Galaxy Police Immigration Office here too. I assume that their reasons are three fold: to catch galactic criminals who have come to Earth, to recruit promising Earthlings for the Galaxy Police and to keep an eye on Katsuhito/Yosho.

Pretty Soldier Sailormoon: You probably expected that since I brought   
Sailor V into the mix and introduced my version of the Star Seeds that other characters from Takeuchi Naoke's universe would appear. Those familiar with the Sailormoon anime might find it interesting that what will appear in this series are the manga versions of the same characters. Naoke was allowed a lot of room to develop the characters the way she wanted them. So expect something different.

If you are wondering at what point in the Sailor Moon timeline this is taking place, I'll be dropping clues throughout the chapters.

OMG: Another block of my world creation has been added and I'll bet you know where it belongs. 

Language: I wanted to experiment with language in Mihoshi's flashback, I used an archaic phasing to show that Mihoshi and her brother was speaking Seniwago. 

Nihon School Year: If you are wondering about Nihon School Year, I asked Maiko Covington about it (Maiko-san went to junior high school and high school in Nihon), "Actually, the school year starts in April, which as you note is the cherry blossom season, so there's lots of pictures of new school kids and ads for school supplies that have cherry blossom themes. School ends in March, so that time in between years, in the spring, is the spring break (haruyasumi). It is pretty short, but it's true time off because you can't possibly have homework. Later in the end of April and into May there is a series of holidays strung together that people call "golden week" when most people take trips, but that one isn't really an official school break for the sake of it sort of thing but more of just holidays that happen to all run together. The summer break is the next one. When I was in school the summer break (natsuyasumi) was from the end of July to the first day of September, so about a month. Thing is, it's the same school year on both sides, so there is always homework assigned. Having to finish up the summer homework, putting off the summer homework, and/or just generally complaining about the summer homework is a big theme of summer. The summer break might be longer now, I'm not sure but generally in Japan it seems they're reducing the number of school days (kids have Saturdays off now a lot of places, which was simply unheard of in the 70's and 80's. The winter break (fuyuyasumi) happens around New Year. Everyone gets a winter break, not just schoolkids. In schools the break starts from around 12/27 or so (few days before New Year) and then lasts until mid-January. Even companies shut down before New Year, and for about the first three days or so of the new year NOTHING is open."

Characters:

Washu: I'm sure some of you have already figured out where I'm going with our Washu-chan. 

Seto: She might be the most powerful woman on Jurai but like all of us, she loves to go shopping and what better way than with her godchild and on a planet where no one knows who she is.

Mihoshi: it takes a lot of effort on my part to show complexity of Mihoshi but I keep trying to do my best.

Ayeka: One step out the railway station and she gets her purse stolen and returned to her by one of the special people of this huge metropolis, the further she travels on her odyssey the more she matures.

Sasami: More laughter and tears for the littlest princess.

Katsuhito/Yosho: As I said before, I figured it was time for a part of Katsuhito/Yosho's life on Earth should be revealed, I also believed he wouldn't stay in Nihon when he had a whole planet he could explore, I concluded he would encounter some of the historical figures in our history and he would met some of Earth's special personages.

Ryoko: It is interesting that most fanfic writers keep forgetting that Ryoko can split into at least two separate bodies. I thought it would be interesting to have this happen.

Ryo-ohki: The little cabbit is thinking she got the bad end of the deal and is really contemplating combat pay.

Kiriko: A character from GXP, she is a descendent of the union between Katsuhito/Yosho and Natsumi.

Skuld: Two goddesses down and one to go.

George Blahman: If you don't know who he really is, then you haven't been reading the series.

Ohiten: As you have probably figured out Ohiten has access to the abilities MacClean gained when his DNA was combined with a Space Tree's DNA.

Joan De Arc/Sailor Sol: I took some literary license in changing the historical Joan De Arc by having her being a Star Seed bearer, Sailor Sol. I also wanted to give you a chance to see what Ohiten's Sailor Sol transformation might be like.

Mulder: As you have noticed, I like the Mulder/Ryoko team-up and Mulder probably likes it too.

Scully: More information and more clues as she and her team search for the cause of these victims' suffering.

Nobuyuki: I haven't forgotten him. He makes an appearance in the next chapter.

Makoto Kino: There isn't much difference between the anime version and the manga version of Makoto expect in the manga she has ginger-colored hair and wears her brown fuku uniform with the excuse that none of the shops carry the Azabu school girl fuku in her size, add the hair and uniform to her violent temper and you will get what most school officials would consider a yankee (juvenile delinquent). If you were wondering why Makoto was so trusting in giving her apartment key to Ayeka and Ohiten, its part of the Nihonjin nature. It is not unusual for Nihonjin to trust and reward people who have proven their worthiness.

Futaba Aoi: Aoi is an interesting character, a young man who had an reputation as an lady-killer in high school but who seemed to had some kind of inner conflict about gender identity (at his senior prom he came dressed as a woman). When a serial rapist proved to be unstoppable with normal police tactics, Aoi decided the only way he could catch the criminal was to not only dress as a woman but to become the perfect woman, in speech, manners and thinking. Aoi successfully arrested the rapist, received an accommodation for his ingenuity but in the end he found that he could no longer think of himself as a man, only as a woman. Aoi's first days at Bokuta Police Station as its first she-he police officer are great to read and to watch. I highly recommend the OVA series, the TV series and the Movie.


	7. Strange Days, Part Seven: Fire and Rain

1Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo/No Need For Tenchi is a product of Pioneer/AIC. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this wonderful series.

Disclaimer: The X-Flies is the product of Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of this excellent series.

Disclaimer: Oh My Goddess and You're Under Arrest are the product of Kosuke Fujishima, What's Michael is the product of Makoto Kobayashi, Ranma 1/2 is the product of Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor V and Sailor Moon are the product of Takeuchi Naoke, Nancy Drew is the product of Carolyn Keene and GTO is the product of Tohru Fujisama. As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment and to bring pleasure to the fans of these excellent series.

Disclaimer: The copyright holders own the songs and poems that appear in this series. All characters 'I' have created are purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure coincidence.

Notes: This is Chapter Seven of Book Two in my crossover series, Strange Days. I would appreciate any C&C about this work. My two E-mail addresses 

The events in Book Two occur just after Episode Four ("Mihoshi Falls To The Land of Stars") and in the first season of the X-Flies (both taking place in 1992). If anyone is interested in using any of the characters I have created here, please contact me first (especially about Anthony MacClean). My knowledge of the training and organizational structure of law enforcement in Nihon has increased but at times I'm still assuming it is similar to ours. If you have questions about the story or how I portrayed the characters please read the notes at the end of each chapter and Book One, contact me at my e-mail addresses or post a message at the Ayeka Fan Club message board ). I have created a glossary of Nihongo words, idioms and titles to help readers understand them. You can get it at TMFFA under Crossover) or send me e-mail requesting it. My prereaders for Book Two are K.T.K. (carryover from Book One), Donald Dortmund, Fuzzy-Bunny (another carryover) and TopQuark. Also, Luriko-Ysabeth helped me on usage of Nihongo in fanfiction.

Dedication: This series is dedicated to the people who brought Tenchi Muyo to life: Hayashi Hiroki, Kajishima Masaki, Hasegawa Naoko, and Kuroda Yosuke. We also honor Chris Carter for his great series.

Warning: Just like the Tenchi Muyo OAV and the X-Flies this work contains adult language and situations (including some ecchi scenes), so any minor should get parents' permission before reading it.

Tenchi Muyo/X-Flies Crossover

Series Title: "Strange Days"

Book Two Title: "Fire and Rain"

A Fan-Fiction by Horosha

Copyright: July 20, 2003

Chapter Seven: Every Picture Tells a Story

Ureshii Yume Isho (Happy Dream Costumes)

Mihoshi wasn't sure who was more nervous, she or Kiyone. It was the first lesson of Aikyoiku and the blond bombshell wanted this night blissful for both of them. It had taken three days of careful planning to work out all the details with her mother, Mitoto, and her godmother, Seto. Normally this kind of preparation would be done by the two love-friends but because Kiyone was Seniwa by choice instead of blood, the teal-haired girl didn't know the intricacies of the Aikyoiku. It only took a little white lie on Mihoshi's and Seto's parts to get Kiyone onboard the Akakani, a three-day stay at the Rator Pleasure Planet as an Aikyoiku gift from Seto, the gift part was true but no one told the fourteen-year-old that Seto was going to make some special stops along the way so the normal three-day trip would extend into an eight-day cruise. Mitoto refreshed Mihoshi's knowledge of the six lessons of the Aikyoiku: Skin, Hands, Lips, Vagina, Words and Openness, the mother making sure her daughter was ready.

"Beautiful Star?" Mihoshi jumped a little at the questioning voice in Seniwago that came from behind her and the ebony lady turned to find Kiyone, in the silvery slip she wore for bed, at the entrance to Akakani's observation deck, "Niji told me you wanted . . . to . . . meet . . . me . . . here, " her cobalt eyes widen as she saw the light spider weave of the bustier, flared panty and negligee her love-friend wore, it took the teenager a moment to recognize the thick forest green comforter in the blonde's right hand and the small, square container in her left.

Kiyone stepped up to Mihoshi like she was in a warm dream and her love-friend explained in Seniwago, "It's time for our first step, Clever Girl."

Kiyone's scarlet bluish upped Mihoshi's attraction to her love-friend as did the teal-haired girl's shy question, "I thought . . . eh . . . we were going to start our lessons when we reached Rator?"

"I know," Mihoshi wanted so much to kiss Kiyone's full lips, to let her tongue intertwine Kiyone's, yet the blonde quieted her desire and continued, "I wanted to surprise your heart."

"Ahhh . . . Niji . . . Minaho . . . they could . . . they could . . ." Kiyone's tongue-tied by the sight of Mihoshi going to her knees where she spread out the comforter.

"This is the first step that Aikyoiku teaches the Golden People," Mihoshi looked up at Kiyone with sapphire eyes burning with love's power, the ebony lady knew it had taken all of Kiyone's willpower to ask Mihoshi to be her love-friend, to place her ring on Mihoshi's ring finger in front of Mikumo and for the fourteen-year-old to declare she wanted to be Seniwa, then Mihoshi added, "to open our hearts without fear or shame."

"My heart would NEVER feel shame for loving you!" Kiyone dropped heavily onto the comforter with her cobalt eyes matching her passionate words.

"I know," Mihoshi put the small container on the ground, "but my mind remembered the first time you walked upon my homeland," the ebony lady allowed her negligee to slip from her slim shoulders as she tilted her head, "how pretty your rosy cheeks were when you saw the openness of our love."

"I . . . I . . ." Kiyone's face doing the same thing she did on the aforementioned day.

"Don't tie your soul in knots," Mihoshi pulled her arms loose and allowed her see-through negligee to pool around her, "for I know most see the Golden People as lustful."

"Not true, Beautiful Star," Kiyone's gaze touched over every inch of Mihoshi's elegant beauty, "I just couldn't believe anyone would do something so vulnerable, so exposed . . ." a flash of her white teeth as she bit her lower lip.

"Because the scars upon your heart," Mihoshi reached behind her back with both hands, "have taught you such trust meant pain," Kiyone's ears heard the twin metallic snaps from the same area.

"I put to sleep the first boy who tried to make me his whore," Mihoshi saw the same hard look she remembered seeing in Kiyone's eight-year-old eyes, "the streets of Kathalli taught me love was a weakness, my sex was a weakness."

"Yet it is the Golden People's strength," Mihoshi countered, the sixteen-year-old with the sun in her hair wanted to throw her arms around Kiyone, let her physicality show she felt her love-friend's pain but she couldn't, the moment Kiyone walked into the room the first lesson of Aikyoiku had started, "being of the Golden People has taught us to open our hearts to others and to heal all wounds with love," with first one hand and then the other Mihoshi brushed her bra's straps from her shoulders and allowed it to drop down to join her negligee.

"I was as tough as any boy twice my age," Kiyone's mind full of stiletto sharp memories, "I took food from the weak to fill my stomach, I rolled drunks for their booze, I pimped girls for a few coins and I killed," her voice ringed with loathing but then its tone changed as the young girl's gaze filled with love for the ebony beauty, "but the six years with you, with Mikumo, with Mitoto has shown me I was a beast feeding on the living to survive," with both hands, Kiyone took hold of her slip's collar, pulled it over her head and off before she finished, "you three awoken inside of me something better than food, water and shelter, I WANT to be human."

"That's why I wouldn't let you go, Clever Girl," Mihoshi's voice reflected the loveliness of her love-friend's full round breasts, the teal tint of her carefully trimmed pubic hair and the ripple of muscles that removing her slip showed, "it's why my feet searched for you and my hand reached out for you to grasp, to the core of my soul I knew you wanted to be human even if you didn't understand why," with both hands, Mihoshi carefully pulled the strings to untie the bows that kept her panties on, the white fabric dropped down between her legs.

"At first I slept next to you because I trusted no one," Kiyone's cobalt eyes hungrily took in Mihoshi's carefully trimmed blond pubic hair, "I walked close to your side because I trusted no one," then her voice became haunted, "I made you my hostage against them."

"I know," Mihoshi blushed at Kiyone's touching gaze, "yet those chains of fear were replaced by chains of love."

"The openness of you and Mitoto and Mikumo," loathing was very much in Kiyone's tone, "the unconditional acceptance you each gave shamed me."

"It is the way of the Golden People," Mihoshi's voice showed how proud she was of Kiyone's honesty, "we carry each others' burdens so the weight is light."

"Yet my heart almost broke when your time for Aikyoiku came and I was moved to another room," remembered pain was in every inch of Kiyone's features, "I thought you didn't like me anymore."

"And when you told me this," Mihoshi remembered the anguish upon the girl's twelve-year-old face, "I told you it was my time to move from childhood to adulthood."

"It was then I declared with all my soul, with all my body, I wanted to be of the Golden People," Kiyone's tone changed to determined love, "I wanted to feel as you do, I wanted to care as you do and I wanted you, Beautiful Star, to never be parted from me."

"And I waited two years for you to reach Aikyoiku," Mihoshi touched the plastic container next to her, "and I was proud of your steadfastness," the ebony lady's smile showed her pride before she asked, "Are you ready for your first lesson?" No hesitation in the teal-haired girl's nod and so the blond-haired girl continued, "The first lesson is called Skin," the ebony girl knew she was only two years older than Kiyone but she kept her words mature, "from it we learn to be sensitive to our bodies' lightest sensations and to detect those same feelings in others," then the blond bombshell smiled wickedly, "for example I can tell by the rosy skin of your cheeks that you like what you see before you."

Kiyone gulped and her bluish spread down to her neck and up to her ears but still she asked, "What do we do first?"

"First lay down on the comforter, on your back with legs parted," Mihoshi's tone vibrated with nervous excitement, Kiyone gave a slight nod then neatly folded her slip before following her love-friend's instruction, then the ebony girl continued, "Now relax, close your eyes and don't be tense, just let your mind be like a quiet winter day," Mihoshi grinned down as the teal-haired girl tried very hard to do as her love-friend told her, "don't worry if you having trouble doing it, Kiyone, I'm new to this too."

"Easy for you to say, Ole Golden Child of Seniwa," both girls giggled at Kiyone's witticism with their right hands to their lips but the humorous moment did the trick and Kiyone was able to calm her emotions.

"During this lesson we can't use our hands or mouths in the normal way," the purr in Mihoshi's voice almost caused Kiyone's control to disappear and the teal-haired girl's anticipation raised a few notches when she felt Mihoshi place her hands on either side of her love-friend's head and the blonde blew lightly on her plain lips, instinctively Kiyone opened her lips and inhaled, her nasal sense filled her soul with Mihoshi's sweet smelling breath, then little puffs touched each of her closed eyes. Kiyone hitched her breath when a wave of sensual pleasure washed through her being when she felt Mihoshi's cheek lightly slide down her left cheek while one of her love-friend's legs brushed over her own left leg, both actions told the fourteen-year-old that Mihoshi's eyes were closed too. This little bit of rational thought evaporated into a little joyful moan as a precise funnel of breath touch her neck just under her ear before working its wispy way along the left side of her throat. Kiyone pulled her head back and arched her back to exposed her neck more fully to Mihoshi's light blow and another pleasing moan came from the depths of her soul as her already hardened dark pink nipples rubbed across Mihoshi's black pair which the blonde bombshell rewarded by causing a gratifying sigh to vibrate against the younger girl's right ear. Taking this as a sign of want by the girl on top, the girl on the bottom pulled her legs up and used her feet to lift her hips up just enough so she could undulate them. Kiyone's body shook with unbelievable pleasure thanks to Mihoshi's delicate breath working its way along her love-friend's collarbone while their breasts fondled each other, which brought throaty moans from Mihoshi.

When the nipples slipped off of each other as Mihoshi light blow reached the spot just above Kiyone's breasts, the teal-haired girl let out a disappointed whine but she was surprised when Mihoshi giggled just before the fourteen-year-old heard the sound of the plastic container opening. 'What's holding things . . .' suddenly Kiyone's thought was shredded by a wave of near orgasmic pleasure as something freezing and wet touch the spot where her love-friend's breath had stopped. The younger girl let out a soul-happy moan as she felt her love-friend's chin push between her rock hard tits as the icy wet moved down, only when the edges of a grinning smile touched the inner of her goose bumped skin did she realized that the ebony girl held a cub of ice with her teeth. When Mihoshi's face slipped out from between Kiyone's twin mounds, the fair-skinned youngster let out a pleasing moan as her love-friend slowly worked the ice underneath her left breast then the long-haired girl's hands grabbed the comforter as she felt Mihoshi lightly blow from the left side of her grin, up between her breasts over the still chilled skin, the combination of hot and cold once more sent Kiyone near her orgasmic threshold, a threshold she almost went over as she felt the sixteen-year-old other leg brush over the fourteen-year-old left leg.

Kiyone trembled with Mihoshi kneeling between her legs with the ebony girl's hands just under her armpits, the teal-haired girl's soul burned thanks to the ice, the little puffs of hot breath and the touch of the ebony girl's face slowly circled up the fair girl's left breast, then her back arched as ice and fire played upon her left nipple which triggered a deep chest moan from her love-friend when Kiyone's flat tummy pressed into Mihoshi's two dark mounds. Keeping her head even with the buildup of mind-blowing euphoria, the teal-haired girl's left hand reached for where she believed the plastic container was located. The touch of her hand upon the cold container instantly told her what was inside and she picked up a frozen cub of water and fueled by another surge of erotic joy, produced when Mihoshi moved to Kiyone's right breast, she slammed the ice against the floor, neatly fracturing it in two. Kiyone gave a silent thanks that she had an innee instead of an outee as she dropped her body to the comforter to insert the piece of ice into her bellybutton.

Mihoshi's disappointment rumbled wordlessly when the quakes of Kiyone's body stopped sending spikes of wonderful sensations from her breasts to every part of her being, then the blond-haired girl paused in surprise when the teal-haired girl's strong legs wrapped around the dark body just beneath the ribcage and pulled her tummy back up, then came a quick intake, hold and release of a cloud-nine sigh when Mihoshi felt the cavity between her breasts invaded by icy wetness.

Kiyone used the cool and hot sensations to undulate her hips so she could copy Mihoshi's technique but in reverse, starting with the right nipple and slowing circling down, soon both girls were in rhythm in both motion and moan. First it was Kiyone who peaked with her legs tightening around Mihoshi's waist and her body bucking up against her love-friend's body. When the first of Kiyone's warm love juices frosted Mihoshi's belly, the stimuli of hot and cold moisture caused the ebony girl to join the fair girl in a mind-emptying orgasm, the girl on the top collapsing onto the girl on the bottom, body's intertwined and lungs shouting to the moon.

Once the passion was spent, Mihoshi opened her eyes and looked at Kiyone's face, into her love-friend's cobalt eyes and found another reason to give thanks to all the divine beings of the universe. The public face Kiyone wore at school and at social events was the iron-willed street kid who made it out of the gutter, but there were moments at home when Mihoshi's hugged a nightmare haunted Kiyone, the terror in those eyes told of a girl who saw the ghosts of every person she had killed to survive, yet what the blond girl found right now in the teal-haired girl's gaze was a soul reborn.

With a voice reflecting a soul freed from captivity Kiyone asked, "So what grade do I get?"

Mihoshi's head dropped down and her blond hair covered both their faces as her ruby lips engulfed Kiyone's lips like they were lemon drops, then when they parted the ebony girl answered in Nihongo, "An A as in ai."

"Himawari, I think you are being little too responsive," said an amused voice that Mihoshi recognized as belonging to Seto.

Mihoshi's sapphire eyes popped open to find she was once more dressed only in her panties, standing in front of a middle-aged woman holding a cloth tape measurer that went around her chest, when the policewoman realized what she had just done, her whole body went all rosy as she stammered, "Go . . . go . . . gomen nasai."

Standing next to Seto, Kujirakawa Fuyumi's black eyes got bigger and bigger and her mouth got wider and wider as the high school student watched Mihoshi let out little pleasurable moans each time the tape measurer touched her skin, Seto spotted the daydream look on her godchild's face earlier and was pleased. Saito Oakiko, the owner of the store and the one holding the tape measurer, just took the occurrence in-stride, saying, "Thirty-four, double-D, just as I thought," she let go of the end of the tape measurer before adding, "normally it takes me and my assistants two weeks to produce four bustiers but since Kuramitsu-san is a friend of Fuyumi-chan," the giantess had recovered enough to give a nod when Oakiko looked in her direction, "we should have them ready in nine days."

Mihoshi sopped down to Oakiko's level before asking, "Could . . . could you make one special change in them?"

"What would that be?" Seto could tell Oakiko was already half convinced because of Mihoshi's puppy dog expression.

"I'm a police officer," Mihoshi clapped her hands together in a pleading gesture, "so could you add a holster to my bustiers?"

"Lefty or Righty?" once more Oakiko didn't bat an eye at Mihoshi's admission but Fuyumi's jaw would have hit the floor if Seto hadn't whispered softly in a teasing way, "Kujirakawa-san, what do you find so surprising about my nazukego?"

"I'm right-handed," Mihoshi replied.

A bucket of cold water couldn't have done a better job than Seto's words, "I just never pictured Mihoshi-san as a police officer," Fuyumi gave a nervous reply.

"A mistake many criminals have made," a serious look on Seto's face before adding some teasing words, "but I'm sure you can see Himawari has many attributes that has boosted my pride for being her nazukeoya."

Fuyumi silently agreed with Seto, the schoolgirl not trusting her tongue from making an unchangeable mistake for she had a bad feeling that Seto's was looking for a lover for her godchild and gender wasn't an issue, the giantess was relieved when the blue-haired lady returned her ruby eyes to Mihoshi and said, "Himawari, if you hurry I'm sure we can reward," the special emphasis Seto put on 'reward' caused Fuyumi to sweat bullets, "Kujirakawa-san with a hearty lunch before she leaves to return to Tokyo."

"Oke!" Seto saw Mihoshi's face brightened at the thought of food but then her innocent look returned as she asked Oakiko, "Do you have some place where I could freshen up," the long fingers of her right hand pulled the front of her panties down a little to reveal her glistening blond pubic hair before she added with a blush, "I had an accident."

The Oakiko smiled and the head seamstress went to an oak cabinet where she opened the top drawer, "Hai and you can use these," she turned around and held out in her right hand a carefully folded saffron yellow bra and panty set.

Mihoshi's smile equaled the brightness of her hair as she bounced over to Oakiko where she politely took the panties and then bowed while saying energetically, "Domo arigato gozaimasu!"

"Do itashimashite," Oakiko returned the bow then added as she looked in Seto's direction, "Kubiha-sama, I must congratulate you on how well you have helped raise this sweet, polite girl."

"I can only take partial credit," once more Seto's voice showed her feelings for her godchild, "because I'm sure the Creator-Of-All-Things must've been indulging in his partisan to something sweet when he thought of Himawari."

Mihoshi giggled at Seto's praise before giving a grinning counter, "Niji-dono, I'm not that sweet."

"Ara?" Seto's sly glance at Fuyumi made the giantess uneasier, "I've heard people say just looking at you made their cavities ache."

Mihoshi couldn't stop from blushing from hair to toe while Oakiko grinned good-naturedly while saying, "Kuramitsu-san, you better pickup your clothes before I show where you can cleanup."

"Hai!" Mihoshi scooped up her clothes and followed the head seamstress toward a hallway in the back of the shop, just before leaving line-of-sight the ebony lady looked over her shoulder, made eye contact with her godmother and nodded. Seto returned the nod, once again the eldest princess of Jurai was pleased with her godchild's perceptive abilities, the only reason Seto hadn't said anything earlier during Mihoshi's daydream was because she understood the daydreams true purpose, it was the inner Mihoshi way of telling the outer Mihoshi that even with a man-made body, she was still the golden child of Seniwa.

Soja

Once more in her crystal prison, Washu found her present consciousness reliving a memory from her past for next to her stood Kagato, the white-haired son she created from her dead friend's DNA, both were in a brand new created section of her planetary lab, a circular control room with two windows on opposite sides, one window revealed a pedestal with one of Washu's Gems suspended a few inches over it with several needle-like lasers surrounding it, the other window showed a copy of the same room except the pedestal was empty, the control room was filled with mainframes and consoles with screens but no chairs since both occupants sat on hovering pillows of red or purple.

"Washu-okasan," Washu's heart warmed whenever her six-year-old son called her mama, "even with what you already taught me, I'm still can't understand everything you've told me about what we are doing here."

"It's alright, Kagato-chan," Washu's placed a comforting arm around Kagato's small shoulders, "a child's mind is designed to be taught mountains of data but to understand that same information takes time," then the redhead removed her arm and held her hands out in front of her and instantly her transparent laptop appeared, "what I placed in your mind before your 'birth' was equivalent to what I had learned before going to the Oken Uchu Akademi plus my own personal history."

"It's just I get mad when my feelings and my body make me act so childish," then he smiled up at his mother, "but I do notice you like me to do those things."

"It gives me a chance to be a mother to my son," a motherly smile appeared on Washu's lips, "something I wasn't allowed to be with my first son."

Kagato nodded his head in agreement before he returned to the original subject, saying, "I'm still wondering why you selected one of your Gems as a part of this experiment?"

"Let me answer your question with a question," Washu suggested as she started to type on her laptop's keyboard, "What is the greatest source of power in the known universe?"

Kagato thought, his right hand slowly drifted to his face where his white teeth slowly chewed on his thumb, then he answered, "The Space Trees."

"Naze wa?" Washu gave Kagato a quick glance but didn't stop her typing.

After a moment of thumb chewing, Kagato said, "Because they can make the Ko-Oh-Yoku," it was now the slim boy noticed what he was doing to his thumb and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Well done, Kagato-chan," another motherly smile appeared on her preteen face, "and you answered your first question."

Kagato gave Washu a confused look before his eyes grew wide and he squeaked, "The Gem can make a KO-OH-YOKU?"

"Tadshii!" Washu was proud of her son's deduction and she prodded him with another question, "Do you remember the incident I had when traveling from Kanemitsu to the Oken Uchu Akademi?"

"Hai," Kagato answered quickly, "the ship you were on was attacked by an uchu kaizoku ship while an assassin tried to kill you but both were stopped by a Juraijin warrior and his bondmate."

"That is what I thought," a look full of knowing on Washu's pink face, "but when I decided to begin this experiment, I did some hacking into Juraijin security mainframes and I found the report of Asakura Mori, Kishi Jurai."

Kagato made a face as he pushed his mind to remember the name before saying, "Wasn't he and his bondmate the ones who saved your life?"

"You are both right and wrong, akachan," some mirth entered Washu's next words due to the Kagato's pouting face, a look that always occurred when the child was confronted by the illogic of adult logic, "while Mori-sama bondmate's Ko-Oh-Yoku stopped the ship, they weren't the same ones that saved my life."

"Ara?" Kagato's face screwed up while trying to concentrate his young mind on what his mother just told him, it didn't take long for his eyes to open with the glow of realization and he said, "It was the Gem that created the Ko-Oh-Yoku!"

"For that piece of deductive reasoning, you get a treat," Washu hit a special button on her keyboard and a tray appeared before her son, on it was a stack of the boy's favorite dessert, sweet mochi, along with a glass of soya drink, Washu kept a tight rein on Kagato's diet so the only time her son had any sweets was as a reward.

With greedy delight the white-haired boy grabbed the top mochi with his right hand and took a big bite while his left hand picked up the blue tinted glass full of milky liquid, Washu too selected one of the rice-syrup-covered treats and nibbled at it while she elaborated on Kagato's answer, "Mori-sama reported he was surprised, when the three Ko-Oh-Yoku appeared and shielded both him and me from the blast of the assassin's self-destruct, since his bondmate's Ko-Oh-Yoku was aligned against the spaceship."

"So something else saved your life, Washu-okasan," Kagato took a big sip of his soya drink and started on his second mochi.

"Not something, Kagato-chan," Washu grinned at the white liquid mustache on her son's upper lip, "someone."

A thoughtful look appeared on Kagato's face and after the youngster swallowed his mouthful of chewy delight, he posed, "They're alive, the Gems, just like in Okage-san's stories?"

The mentioned of the name Washu given to the mysterious gray-eyed woman caused her to pause and stare at the half-eaten mochi, her voice was strangely calm, "Hai, her stories and the way the Gems acted when she was there that made me start to think about them as something more than pretty playthings."

Kagato felt a pang of child jealousy at the longing in Washu's emerald eyes for another person lost to the heartless universe, it caused his next observation to have an edge of pleasure to it, "I wonder where Okage-san is now?"

"I don't know," Washu heard not the gout in her son's voice, "I haven't seen her since the night I left for the Oken Uchu Akademi."

Kagato bit down on his third mochi when a new thought came to him and he voiced it, "Washu-okasan, do you think Okage-san put Mori-sama on the ship to help you?"

"Ee," a new understanding caused Washu's eyes to burn brightly, "Ee! Mori-sama told of a spy within Shank's people, who informed him of the plan to kill me!"

"Didn't Okage-san say she couldn't go with you?" Kagato's mind was too caught up in his own musings to notice the glow coming from Washu's left pocket.

"Okage-san said it was time for me to fly with my own wings," Washu's felt her fondness for her childhood friend, "and she kissed my cheek before stepping back into the shadows."

Kagato finished his last mochi in silence while Washu quietly downed the last part of hers before she continued to type in the last part of her experiment, at this point Kagato asked, "Because the Gems created the Ko-Oh-Yoku, you believe they must have great power."

"Hai," Washu's scientific fervor had returned to her voice, "and anything created by nature I can duplicate with these machines."

"You are going to use copies of the Gems to power the android you're making for the Galactic Union?" Kagato drank the last of his soya drink, put the glass on the floating tray, which promptly disappeared.

"Not just power them," a frantic fire lit up Washu's child-woman face, "but to fulfill the other requirements."

Kagato's eyes grew wide with coveted glee as he licked his cupid lips but his next thought dampened his hunger and he said, "But didn't other people examine the Gems and found nothing?"

Washu let out a loud cackle before saying with contempt, "Those same 'people' classified me a Class C psychic," her typing paused as her left hand reached into her vest pocket and pulled out a glowing vial, "yet I'm able to do THIS!"

Kagato felt like his heart was hit by a hammer when he saw the a dozen tiny lights drifting in the clear glass container, there was enough definition in the sparkles for the youngster to say in a squeaky voice, "Micro-galaxies!"

"Close, Kagato-chan," a Cheshire Cat grin on Washu's face, "they're micro-universes."

It seemed like forever for Kagato to break the hypnotic effect the awesome sight had on his eyes, when the six-year-old did his words matched the eager look he gave his mother, "Warriors armed with Ko-Oh-Yoku."

"Un!" a tone of righteous anger in Washu's tone, "Soldiers to protect what is rightfully mine!" With these last words the redheaded scientist pressed the button marked enter on her laptop.

Needle nodules appeared from the walls in both rooms, pointed at the pedestals and beams from them begun to bathe the Gem, the screen on the console in front of Washu and Kagato showed them scanning the red crystal on the subatomic level. Kagato heard Washu gasp and her emerald eyes fill with wonder, which caused the boy to ask, "Nani?"

"The scans are showing the Gem has multiple dimensional existence," Washu's voice ringed with excitement, "not just organic, astral and ethereal but also a higher dimensional existence!"

"Higher dimensional existence?" Kagato still had trouble with some of the psychological-philosophical terms the little scientist would use.

"Look!" Washu turned to look out the window behind them while Kagato turned and stood up on his floating cushion, both saw a millimeter sliver of red, a quick glance at her laptop screen by Washu showed the object was growing one subatomic particle at a time.

As the clone of the Gem reached completion Kagato started to hoop up and down on his cushion with unrestrained elation, a beep from Washu's laptop signaled the experiment's ending but a second later the laptop started to beep like the devil was chewing on it and Washu was horrified by the sight of every sensor in the creation room going into the red. Kagato was confused by how pale his mother's face was next to her rich red hair but then his own face matched his hair when the alarms went off. The first energy surge rippled off the crystal clone and made the walls rattle along with three cracks appearing in the six-inch thick concaved window. With speed-of-light dexterity Washu's fingers typed on the laptop's keyboard in an attempt to activate Level Omega energy dampeners, since the automatic Level Alpha energy dampeners had burned out due to an overload, then her sensors warn of another surge going off, one two-hundred-and-thirteen percent greater than the first.

Washu's mother instinct kicked in and the redhead leaped sideways off her purple cushion, her arms grabbed the frozen Kagato off his cushion and she jumped over the console to use its metal bulk as a shield, the little scientist was in midair when the control room wall shared with the creation room took on the characteristics of torn tissue paper and the cracked window looked like a spider web just before it exploded, sending several razor fragments into the control room.

Washu curled around Kagato as both impacted against the remaining intact window with bone breaking force and several small glass shards cut her clothes to ribbons, punctured wounds in her flesh and left streaks of red on her preteen body. The little scientist fought to remain conscious, fought to keep her mind cleared enough to summon her laptop, and it was now the first temporal wave broke against her mind.

The first image before Washu's eyes was of two women standing in front of her, one was a brunette with cobalt blue eyes and green markings on her face while the other had azure-colored hair with pink eyes and two blue dots on her forehead. The blue-haired woman faced the brunette and asked, "Was it really necessary for the Enlil to die?" Washu heard deep regret in a young sounding voice.

"Yeah, I like to know your reasoning too," Washu heard the mature version of her voice asking.

"Their existence was an accident," iciness to the brunette's voice, "They weren't a part of our design."

"Maybe not our plan but what about the one who gave us life," firmness in the azure woman's voice, "the Enlil might have been his addition to our cosmic design."

"And things were just starting to get interesting," disappointment heavy in Washu's voice, "the Enlil had left their own planet and created two races to seed other solar systems."

"You are both pandering to your own interest," not a hint of reconsideration in the brunette's purple eyes, "they were a pollution to the perfection of our creation, a disease that needed a cure."

"But we are creators," the azure woman waved her hands at the brunette, "not destroyers."

"You are both wrong, there is no such thing as perfection in the lower dimensions and in a way we are destroyers," Washu's voice pointed out, "Suns and worlds are created in the furnace of heat and dust, take a brief taste of existence before being sucked in by a black hole and returned to the great ball of being."

"Balance must be maintained for the cycle of existence to work," the brunette pointed out, "add anything to the scale and the cycle will cease and chaos will reign."

"What about the Utu?" the azure woman's heart could be heard in her voice, "even now they grieve for the loss of the Enlil, for the genocide you caused."

"The Star People will recover and learn from it," no compassion in the brunette's reply.

"Learn what?" the azure woman's eyes glared at the brunette, "That we are unbending and ruthless in our determination, unworthy of their worship as creators."

"I think both of you getting too caught up in this debate," an even tone to Washu's voice, "what's done is done and we have not the ability to change it."

"I can't help it, when I walk amongst the Utu, they ask one question," regret returned to the azure woman's voice, "Why?"

"You have allowed yourself too much contact with them," the brunette's cold logic in her assessment, "remember their existence is fleeting."

"It is better than being the Ice Queen," the azure woman countered, "They're our children and we mustn't turn a blind eye to the Utu's grief nor their pleas for understanding."

"Okay, you two, enough with the personal attacks," Washu's voice showed she was getting impatient, "we still have something to decide upon here," and then she gave the brunette a hard look before she added, "and all THREE of us will be involved in this decision."

"I assume this is about the Enlil's creations," the brunette's voice sounded like she was talking about a waste byproduct, "in my opinion they should return to the dust they came from."

"I have listened to the Utu's prayers for mercy for the Humans, for the Wu and the others," a crystal clear determination in the azure woman's voice, "and I have decided to prove they are worthy enough to exist in this dimension and they have a purpose for being here." With those words the azure woman slowly faded from Washu's emerald gaze.

The image shifted and Washu found her still with the brunette but this time they had someone new between them, a dishwater-blond-haired man whose charcoal black body was held captive in glowing bluish-white bands, the man was dressed in a lime green yukata with a pine green hakama tied to his waist by a white obi embroidered with the golden images of trees, his gray eyes peered from his rock hard face and he repeatedly gave angry glares at the brunette and at Washu, in a moment his graveled voice asked, "Okay, GIRLS, you've got me all dressed up like a Thanksgiving Turkey, now what?"

Washu felt all giddy inside at the fighting spirit the blonde was demonstrating, she could tell by his body posture that the tall man knew he was at their mercy but he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of showing it to them. With an ear-to-ear smile on her face, Washu sensed her hand give the man's right ass cheek a pinch.

"Great, I've been captured by the S&M Sisters!" the blonde's response to Washu's stimuli.

"Tsk, tsk," Washu heard her mature voice once again, a voice full of mischief, as she walked around and turned to face the blonde, "is that anyway to talk to your betters?"

"Boy, I must be really far down the evolutionary chain for that to be true," the blonde sneered down at the redhead.

"I agree with the assessment," a stony tone came from the brunette's pink lips.

"Everyone's a comedian," the blonde rolled his eyes before he added with false wonder in his tone as he looked at the brunette, "although I was wondering if you had a TONGUE after all or if you were a MUTE."

The brunette's eyes narrow but Washu intervened by reaching between the blonde's yukata and his hakama with her left hand and cupped his family jewels before she commented with a grin, "Hmm, jockey shorts."

"Hey, hey, careful down there," the blonde broke his staring match with the brunette to look down at where Washu's hand was, "I'm still using them."

Washu caught the quick flash of humor in the brunette's eyes before it disappeared behind her icy stare, the redhead felt surprise at the other woman's reaction to the blonde's words in the same way when the brunette deadpanned a joke, Washu could only assume it was very unusual for her female companion to show any emotion or interest in a male. The redhead returned her gaze to the blonde, who looked puzzled at the startled expression on his tormentor's face, and quickly hid behind her next words, "We have a proposition for you."

"Sorry," no apologetic tone in the blonde's decline, "I'm already working for one of your kind."

Washu felt her estimation for the blonde's abilities go up a notch before she asked, "So you know where we come from?"

"If you smelled one upper dimensional being," point-blank bluntness in the blonde's voice, "you smelled them all."

A lustful smile was on Washu's face as she worked her left hand between the flaps of the blonde's jockey shorts, cupped the fleshy sack and said with sweetness, "Ooohhhh, nice and hairy."

The blonde growled out a warning at Washu, "Why don't you just send me back and we'll call it even?"

"That is not a logical solution since we have filled your role in our sister's project with another," the brunette replied.

"I saw the double," the fire was back in the blonde's words, "I assume Tsunami isn't privy to what you are doing?"

"We are incorporating into our little experiment," Washu allowed her fingernails to lightly play with the blonde's family jewels, "what Tsunami has already done."

"Tsunami wants to prove biological sentients, who were created upon grains of sand, has a place in this lower dimension," the brunette's tone showed what she thought of Tsunami's venture.

"The hard work Tsunami has done so far will be the catalyst for our experiment," Washu could tell the blonde was responsive to her handiwork, "while what we add will prove or disprove her goal."

"But why do you . . . you need me," the blonde was fighting to keep his baser self in check.

"For our experiment to succeed," Washu grinned up at the blushing blonde as her left index finger stroke the area just behind his family jewels, "we must take into account of any X factors that we cannot foresee."

"I thought . . ." the blonde took in a ragged breath before he could muster his self control, "I thought upper dimension beings could see the future?"

"Like leaves on a tree," the brunette replied in an even voice, "but for each future that would confirm Tsunami's faith in your race and the other races, there are ten that would deny Tsunami's faith."

"Personally I think you guys are as fun as a barrel of monkeys," Washu ran her left hand's index and middle fingers along the side of the blonde's stiff flagpole, "while my companion over there thinks you and the others are a bunch of losers."

The blonde was having a lot of trouble controlling his breathing, let alone talk, "Do I . . . do I . . . have . . . a . . . choice."

"Always," Washu grinned wickedly as her left thumb teased the velvet end of the blonde's flagpole, "you can say yes and we can get this experiment going, you can let me use the lollipop method to seduce you which I personally recommend," Washu knelt in front of the blonde and her right hand took hold of his obi, "or you can say no, in which case I turn you over to my companion, she has a real talent for making things dead, permanently."

Washu saw the indecision in the blonde's sweating face so she gave the obi a mighty yank. Off came the obi, down came the hakama and boing, boing, boing the man's flagpole went with the redhead's eyes following each boing. Looking up at the chagrined man with tasty victuals eyes, Washu heard the mature lust in her voice, "Tell you what," then she noticed the man get taller and her voice became its preteen version, "I'll bet you're the kind who likes to bang young virgins."

Immediately Washu felt the blonde's flagpole go limp in her left hand and she saw it had gone to half-mast, the redhead felt disappointed and said, "Damn!"

When Washu's gaze looked up, she found the man giving the brunette a measured look, like Washu it was obvious he had also noted the earlier look of interest in those cobalt blue eyes, those same eyes gave no hint what the interest was but the expression on the man's face suggested he consider it something worse than death. When the blonde's gaze met the redhead's gaze there was resignation in his gray eyes, "These futures you mentioned, the ones where Tsunami's faith is confirmed, they have a better chance of occurring if I help," Washu nodded with a hook-line-and-sinker grin on her face, the man let out a soul-weary sigh, "Where do I sign up for this chicken outfit," he said.

The image shifted and Washu found her head held tight by an iron grip on her hair and her gaze filled by the crazed features of a young cyan-haired woman armed with a black six-inch dagger. Washu felt her mind struggling to activate her Washu Doll maneuver but her gray matter was foggy and confused, then she heard a sinister feminine laugh followed by a proud voice coming from her left, "The needle of the dart I hit your leg with was covered in a Witch's Five biotoxin, strong enough to render your vaulted psychic powers impotent for the short-term, Washu-chan," the little scientist's periphery vision caught the image of an older redheaded woman in a white lab coat.

"Enough time for me to show my haha," the woman knelt next to Washu, her words full of malevolence, "how much I love her," the preteen felt the dagger's blade against her neck and saw the soul sucking glee in the woman's amber eyes, at the same time the girl-woman felt a wetness trickling down her neck.

Washu sensed tears streaming from her eyes, sensed her soul ready to scatter into a thousand pieces and sensed her will-to-live all gone, then suddenly the pressure was gone from her neck and her ears heard an angry hiss from the red-and-black battlesuited woman as she let go of the little scientist's hair and jumped back. Washu felt her body impact against the cold tiled floor but the sight her unmoving eyes saw made her spirit sing like an angel for framed in the glow of a doorway was another cyan-haired woman, dressed in the same battlesuit as the other one, but unlike the crazed lust Washu saw earlier, the amber eyes of this young woman flowed with tears and one word, a word full of love, passed her lips, "Okachan."

"This will prove interesting," the smirking voice of the older woman reached Washu's ear, "the original akurei no hakai versus Tomoe-sensei's legion of egg enhanced clones."

"Ryoko-san will have help!" a husky feminine voice came from behind the silently crying woman and out stepped on the woman's right was a tall woman with short choppy blond hair, "A promise given by the Senshi of the Sky, Sailor Uranus!"

"And I will guarantee that promise," a silky soft feminine voice came from the same direction and taking a wide stance on the tearful woman's left was a well-shaped woman with ocean colored long hair, "with the oath of the Senshi of the Sea, Sailor Neptune!"

The image shifted, what Washu now saw was an angry golden-skinned girl in her mid-teens, her hair the color of fire with eyes like twin suns, the youth was wearing three-inch sole shoes, floppy white knickers, a modest tie-dyed skirt and blouse combo along with black half-fingered gloves, both of which were in tight fists while the girl thundered, "Chijo-chan! Keep your paws off my Daddy!"

"Can't a girl have a little fun?" the teen's eyes narrow at Washu's pussycat tone, "Besides I thought your 'Daddy' would have a thing about nurses, him being a Vet and all that." At the same time Washu noted they were in the life science section of her lab, an examination table to her left.

"Daddy is quite happy with Rumiko-mama, so keep your poking and prodding on a professional level," the golden girl placed her right fist right under Washu's nose, "or you'll find out how pissed a Sailor Senshi can get!"

Washu's gaze noticed a reflective screen of one of the console's behind the redhead showed the scientist in her preteen body wearing her angel-of-mercy outfit, then she saw her half-smile become a mad scientist grin before she gave the golden girl's fist a big wet noisy kiss, which put a freaked out expression on the teenager's face that became even more wigged out when the little scientist said, "Doze, if you do I'll show you my shell collection."

Again the image changed and Washu found her gaze showed she was crouched behind a man-sized boulder, her left hand held a three-by-three inch square black box with a big red button on top. The sounds of small arms fire and explosives were all around her and then she heard a gleeful sound come from her right side, there beside her was a bouncy little girl with big pink eyes. It was now the redhead noticed that she and the girl were dressed in US Army desert fatigues along with the standard helmets. Next came the sound of running feet from somewhere on the other side of the big rock and she heard her excited voice say, "You get the honor, Sasami-chan."

"Ee," the little girl held her right fist up above the button while she eagerly stared at the little scientist.

Two young men shot pass the two concealed females, one a black-haired youth with fear filled almond-shaped eyes and the other a thirty-something blond Western, who held up a four-foot circular bluish-white energy shield to cover the youth's back, behind them Washu heard a voice call out in a language she didn't recognize and in response the two running men leaped behind another group of boulders which seconds later were chipped and holed by submachine gun fire, it was now Washu shouted, "IMA!"

The little girl hit the button as hard as she could and voices of surprise were heard from the other side of the boulder followed by several heavy electrical discharges and screams of Hell bound agony. Washu and the little one peeked around the corner to find smoldering bodies surrounded by six-inch popup Washu dolls.

"Yaappii!" shouted the little girl as she and Washu exchanged high fives behind the rock, the redhead noticed azure strands of hair dislodged from under the bouncy child's helmet.

"It TOOK you long enough!" an irritable tone came from the fair-faced man as both males cautiously stood up from their concealment.

"I had to make sure my trap would work PERFECTLY!" Washu heard the ecstatic tone in her retort before she added with a fiendish grin, "Besides if you two did suffer any physical trauma while waiting, it would give me a chance to experi . . . aaa . . . to repair my favorite guinea pig and my favorite lab rat," just then a screech of battle lust mixed with the other sounds of mayhem caused Washu to happily comment, "Ryoko-chan sounds so happy!"

The shorthaired young man and the shorthaired older man exchanged alarmed looks with the blonde saying, "You know, Tenchi-san, it's less dangerous out there than it is in here."

"Hai!" the youth agreed as he ignited the lightsabre in his right hand.

The little girl was giggling up a storm as both men charged out and Washu gave them a sour expression while complaining, "No appreciation for my genius."

The image changed to where Washu found her hands typing on her transparent laptop's keyboard, its screen showed her mainframe was interfaced with another powerful mainframe, then she heard her preteen voice say, "Ami-san, these encryption codes would've stopped even my genius if it wasn't for the memories you and the other Sailor Senshi regained."

"Encryption codes based on personal knowledge are the hardest to solve," a soft feminine voice came from Washu's right side along with another source of typing, "yet only Usagi-chan has complete memory of her past as the Moon Princess, the rest of us have recovered only partial knowledge of our past selves due to flashbacks while Ohiten-sensei is restricted from revealing what she was taught about the Moon Kingdom."

"I can tell Ohiten-san isn't happy about withholding information from you and the other Sailor Senshi," Washu kept her eyes on the screen while typing, "although I think she tries to use MacClean-san as a way to get around her Sailor Sol's restrictions."

"Washu-chan, I'm curious about one aspect of Ohiten-sensei's symbiotic relationship with MacClean-san," Washu heard the interest in the pleasant sounding voice, "as demonstrated by what has happened with Usagi-chan, Minako-chan and is occurring with me and Rei-chan and will take place with Makoto-chan, we are going through a metamorphosis, our human bodies are changing into our past humanoid bodies, yet this hasn't occurred with Ohiten-sensei."

Washu felt a spark of excitement ignite from the voice's words and she hit the pause key as she turned around on her floating cushion to face the source of the voice, on another floating cushion was a teenager with a page hairstyle, whose indigo hair made her pale face look almost white, she wore a Prussian blue skirt piped with British scarlet along with a long-sleeved white blouse and a green-blue fluffy scarf around her slim neck, the youth's sapphire eyes sparkle with the same scientific interest as the redhead knew was in her own emerald eyes and in her hands was a blue notebook computer. After thinking things over Washu replied, "The data I have on Sailor Senshi hasn't been updated in five-thousand-years, so to answer your query one-hundred percent I will need to do a physical examination of a Sailor Senshi."

There was only a slight delay before the indigo-haired girl stood up and begun to brush her skirt strips from her shoulders but she stopped when Washu held up her right hand while saying with amusement, "Iie, iie, that won't be necessary."

"Oi?" the teenager's eyes wide with surprise, "But I thought . . ."

Washu grinned at the confused youth and she pressed a couple of buttons on her laptop while saying, "I only does that to my male patients," then she saw the expression on the fourteen-year-old's face and she asked, "you look disappointed?"

"It's just I'm so fascinated to see your methodology, Washu-chan," the little scientist got off her cushion and turned to face the twelve-inch subspace hole that had opened while the youngster explained, "because of my duty as a Sailor Senshi and my responsibility as part of the Moon Princess' bodyguard, I've turned down scholarships to study at the great universities in Yoroppa (Europe) and in Beikoku (United States)," a round object about the same size as the hole popup into Washu's hands as the pale girl continued, "so I resign myself never to know the limits of my genius," then her voice took on a tone Washu knew very well, "yet in all the dreams I've drawn in my mind, I couldn't imagine I would get the chance to work with the greatest genius of the universe."

As she approached the indigo girl, Washu used a joke to keep her ego under control, "So Ohiten-san's been telling horror stories about me and I'll bet you ojosans drew straws to see who would have to come here wa?"

"Actually, I broke my straw in half," the girl's white skin made her blush look like a five-alarm fire.

Again the image shifted and Washu found she was looking at an oblong pill in the palm of her right hand before she shifted her sight up to the woman standing before her, a tall woman with long white hair, light brown skin with blue markings on the cheeks and forehead, wearing a skin-tight lime green shirt matched by some skin-tight pale purple pants, then the little scientist looked at the man to her left, the same black-skinned man she had seen earlier, before her vision shifted to her right where a dishwater blond girl with limitless kindness in her gray eyes stood, she had the same facial markings as the other woman. Finally her eyes returned to the woman in front of her and she asked, "So this will return my memories to me ne?"

"Hai, Washu-chan," there was note of respect in the white-haired woman's voice, "it's a key activation formula, designed to unlock your previous life's memories."

"My previous life's . . ." Washu felt a shock hit her mind as something she never thought of before came to the fore.

When the black man saw the expression, he smirked, "Oi, you cried like any other newborn babe," the dishwater blonde lightly giggled behind her right hand while the white-haired woman fought to keep a straight face.

"So I had," excitement bubbled up out of Washu's shock as her emerald gaze locked on the black man in the heavy lemon yellow sweater, "an okasan and an otousan?"

The man looked uncomfortable but the young fair girl in the straw-colored dress answered the question, "Ee, Washu-chan, in a very special way you had an okasan and an otousan."

The images flickered and pain burned in Washu's body and mind, the little scientist once more found Kagato in her arms and the sound of alarms ringing in her ears, the screen on her laptop showed the Gem clone's physical structure going unstable, from his mother's arms Kagato saw the same thing and cried out, "OKACHAN!"

The blast disintegrated the walls, the glass windows and consoles, but the Gem clone's destructive conversion from matter to energy didn't reach Washu and Kagato because three Ko-Oh-Yoku appeared and formed a cocoon around them. Washu pushed through the pain to reach into her lab coat's pocket and pulled out three glowing gems, her own psychic senses felt their musical humming while a child's awe filled her ears, "Washu-okasan, your Gems are protecting us!"

Once the spots from the blast left Washu's eyes, the redhead stood with Kagato sliding out of her grasp, her words laced with pain filled fatigue, "Kagato-chan, I think you going to need to help your haha to the regeneration tank."

"Hai, okasan," the six-year-old placed his mother's right hand on his tiny shoulders he tried his best to use his left hand to pull Washu close.

As the two walked over a blast-scared floor with the smell of burning wires and plastic in the air, Washu's mind buzzed with the information shown to her by the temporal images, the little scientist knew how tricky temporal waves could be, the images they produced could be about her past and her future or they could be about an alternate Washu existing in one or several alternate dimensions, yet in the darkest depths of her soul where she kept chained her inner demons, to the bright sky where angels sang to her conscious, she felt her heart fill with a resolve to claim what the images showed her. This resolution was interrupted when Kagato asked in a confused voice, "Okasan, why didn't the experiment work?"

For the rest of the journey Washu used Kagato's question to keep her body going, when they reached the regeneration tank and Washu laid face down on the medical bed that would take her inside the huge machine, the mother answered, "Kagato-chan, I think the clone wasn't made right."

Kagato thought for a moment as Washu called up her laptop and pressed a series of buttons to activate the restoration program, then he asked, "How was the clone not made right?"

"I think the Gem has to be alive to keep the power stable," Washu explained then she asked, "You remember how to use the kitchen program?"

"Hai," Kagato nodded, his face was a mix of worry and hope.

"And take your nap and go to bed when you are suppose to ne?" Kagato nodded again and Washu bushed the few strands of white hair out of her son's face, "That's a good son, I won't be long."

"I love you, okasan," Kagato's red eyes glisten with emotion.

"I love you, akachan," Washu returned as the lower part of the regeneration tank parted and the medical bed slid in with its passenger.

Washu's mind slipped back into the present as her mind went over again the information brought up. Like before this memory was bittersweet, it reminded her how her and Kagato had started out as mother and son, how wonderful it was to have a loving son whose genius had the potential to be his mother's equal. Like before she still wondered about the validity of the temporal images yet she felt a touch of fear at those images that suggested they might be from a time before she was found at the abbey's entrance, a time she wasn't supposed to remember until something happen. 'I want so much for these images to be a part of my life,' a mix of anger, loathing and hope filled her imprisoned spirit, 'but do I have the right to hold the key of my past in my hand, do I have the right to stand before the door to my future, do I have the right to open the lock of the present.'

Funao Forensic Lab, Funao

"I can see what caught your interest, Scully-san," the black-haired man with the horn-rimmed glasses commented as he stood next to the American detective, both were carefully examining the photos of the stained tissue from the brain biopsy on the dead found in the passenger car, "there is almost total disruption of both hemisphere's synapse web, only the area covering automotive responses like breathing, walking, eyesight and hearing were left intact."

"Hai, Sakaki-isha," Scully nodded slowly, "only the boy and those bodies closest to his show this kind of cellular destruction, the brain biopsies of the other bodies show a different pattern of synapse web destruction."

"The one thing I can't get over is the emaciation of the child's body," Sakaki's voice sounded older than his thirty-five-year-old body, "the local police reported him missing only yesterday."

"The local police," this new piece of information caught Scully's attention, "not his ryoshin?"

"Hai," the head of the forensic department saw the new interest in Scully's emerald eyes so he flipped open the file he had on the boy, "it was originally believed by the Konko Traffic Police that the youth was involved in a traffic accident while waiting for his school bus."

"Why did they believe he was still there when the accident occurred?" Scully's mind was carefully fitting the clues together without forcing them.

"His school books were found next to the driver's body and the bus driver reported he wasn't at the bus stop, so the police believed he was dazed by the accident and wandered off," then the possibilities hit the doctor's mind and he said, "You don't think he was exposed to something at the accident."

"To paraphrase the Great Detective," Scully remembered Mulder would annoy her by using this quote, "when all possible solutions are ruled out one by one, what is left, no matter how inconceivable it is, is the truth."

"I'll call Konko Forensic Lab to see if the driver's body is still there," Sakaki's white lab coat billowed as he quickly made his way to the telephone.

"If it has already been turned over to the deceased's relatives," Scully suggested as she made her way toward the lab's exit, "find out which mortuary the body has been sent to and have them stop any embalming or cremation until I can take brain tissue samples."

Scully heard the affirmative answer from Sakaki as she opened the door, her right hand was already going to her cellphone in her pocket while her left hand pulled out her notebook. With her right thumb she pressed the necessary buttons and held the device to her ear, in seconds a male voice answered in Nihongo, "Moshi-moshi, Sugoru here."

"Sugoru-san, Scully here," her gaze checked the information in her notebook to make sure she didn't make any verbal mistake, "I need a haz-mat team sent to the scene of a traffic accident that occurred near the Togashi farm, located just outside the city of Konko," then she made a hard decision while her assistants joined her, "also have the team quarantine the farm and check for contamination and use the cover story to explain it to the family there."

"You found the trail?" questioned Sugoru.

"Hai, I believe I have," Scully answered as she left the building, "I'm going to Konko, then to the farm, I'll let you know if I find found anything."

"Anything else, Scully-san?" Sugoru asked.

"Hai," Scully acknowledged, "I want you to send all unclaimed bodies to the medical research lab located near Hakui, in Ishikawa-ken, they have advanced equipment even our NZK forensic labs don't have."

"It will be done," Sugoru replied.

"Gu, Scully out."

Once Scully was in the long black car, the redhead decided to inform Mulder about the progression of this case, so she pressed her cellphone's address book function and activated Mulder's cellphone number, in two shakes of a lamb's tail, Scully heard a familiar voice, "Hello, Mulder here."

"This is Scully," the background noise the redhead heard suggested her partner was in a restaurant, "just letting you know I could be out of cellphone range for a while."

"Scully," a little mirth in Mulder's voice, "You're following the trail of bread crumbs?"

"NINJIN-CHAN!" the American slightly pulled the phone from her ear and frowned at the female voice.

"Tell Ryoko," annoyance in Scully's voice as she noticed the varied looks from her assistants, some puzzled some amused, "this isn't a social call."

"You know, Mulder," a hint of naughtiness in Ryoko's English words, "Scully sounds uptight, how about we get her and Nobuyuki a love motel room."

That last comment put wind in Scully's sails and she said, "Mulder, will you please point out to Miss Hakubi that if she spreads rumors about my so-called love life, I will take away her toy badge."

Background noise came over the receiver before Mulder said, "C'mon you two, be nice," then he added, "Ryoko, a detective doesn't stick her tongue out."

"I'm non snichin' in oup," Ryoko's speech was badly slurred, "You're holdin' ip."

A small smile graced Scully's face as she was fairly certain it was Ryoko and not Mulder who had a hold of the errant appendage, then the redhead remembered why she called so she asked, "Anyway, how is it going with your murder investigation?"

"It looks like we are dealing with a vigilante," Mulder explained.

"Yeah and she doesn't like what she doing either," Ryoko piped in.

"So the suspect is female," Scully's comment more an observation than a question.

"An eye witness definitely identified her as a female," Mulder confirmed.

"I was always certain it was a woman," Ryoko added, "my nose never lies."

Scully opened her mouth to comment about Ryoko telling the truth but thought better, so instead she asked, "Do you know who it is?"

"Not yet," Mulder replied, "she is using a disguise to prevent identification but we were able to get her disguise intact this time, so we hoping forensics can give us some clues."

"Didn't the eye witness give an accurate description of the suspect?" slight confusion in Scully's question.

"The guy was watering his pants so bad," Ryoko got in the first shot, "the only thing he saw was her boobs."

Scully heard gaffs from her assistants and there was a pause before Mulder added in an irritated tone, "the witness did say he saw tears in her eyes."

"That's true," Ryoko admitted but there was a grin in her voice.

Changing the subject, Mulder commented, "We've been listening to the new reports about the Funao Toxic Spill."

"Yeah, some really bad medicine happened over there," Ryoko added her two cents.

"I can't tell you anything about it over an unsecured line," Scully tried to keep her voice neutral, "except we are following every lead we can find to reveal the whole truth about the spill."

"Well," Mulder's confidence in Scully's skill was in his voice, "I wish you luck."

"Break a leg," Scully wasn't sure if Ryoko's comment was a vote of confidence or wishful thinking, then she heard the cyan-haired woman's laugh.

"I'll get back to you and the funny girl later," a dangerous tone in Scully voice, "Bye."

"Bye, bye," replied two voices.

Scully cut the connection but then thought about what Ryoko had said and how right now the redhead felt like needing to hear a certain voice, even if it might corroborate to her assistants what the ample woman had said, so with some steeling of willpower, the American pressed in another set of numbers.

Kenminno Design Group

Nobuyuki was in his open door cubicle with his computer on and using a draw pad and etching pen to add some finishing touches to the drawings for the new proposal that he had been working on for the pass two weeks, it was one of the reasons he had taken his 'family' up to the onsen, a chance for him to let his brain soak up the heat and minerals from the bubbling water so he would come to work with a fresh mind and it worked, he was certain the developers would love the idea of a private onsen for the condo they were looking to build, even the telephone ringing couldn't break his good mood, "Moshi-moshi, Masaki Nobuyuki."

"Masaki-san, there's a call from a Scully Dana for you on line six," the voice of the office receptionist informed him.

"Domo arigato, Shimizu-kun," gratitude in Nobuyuki's words before he pressed the button for line six and his voice gained scarlet warmth, "Konnichiwa, Ninjin-chan."

"Konnichiwa, Inkushimi," Scully's greeting reflected the same affection as Nobuyuki's.

"Genki desu ka? (How are you doing?)" Nobuyuki heard about the Funao Toxic Spill and knew Scully might be involved in the investigation.

"Genki desu yo, Anata wa? (I'm fine, you, darling?)" Scully decided to up the ante in the touching-feeling department.

"I was a little worried about you," Scully calling Nobuyuki darling caused his voice to deepen then he cleared his throat before adding, "and Mulder-san."

"You've heard about what happened at Funao," Scully probed.

"Hai," the middle-aged man concern increased.

"Dewa because of my medical training," Scully careful to give only what Nobuyuki would hear on the news, "I've been split from Mulder to head up the investigation."

"Subarashii! I'm so proud of you!" Nobuyuki's joy was tempered with mild confusion, "But why isn't Mulder . . ." his voice trailed off because he realized his favorite girl might not be allowed to answer.

"Our other case is still open," Scully valued Nobuyuki's tact, "but don't worry about either of our safety, I have plenty of help and Ryoko-san is helping Mulder."

"Ryoko-san?" this revelation caught Nobuyuki totally by surprise, when he left this morning with Tenchi, Mihoshi, Seto and Ayeka, Ryoko was supposed to baby-sit Sasami.

"Hai," Scully let her voice note her mix feelings about the development, "by happenstance Ryoko-san became our first recruit for our department," then Scully remembered the shock she heard in Nobuyuki's question, "Is something wrong with that?"

"Mo," Nobuyuki didn't want to rat on the uchu kaizoku, "it's just with Ryoko-san's background, I didn't think she would want to be a keisatsukan."

"Believe me, Inkushimi, when Ryoko-san showed up yesterday I thought she was there to pull our proverbial leg," then Scully's annoyed tone became thoughtful, "but she helped us find clues in her own unique way and her wild attitude has kept Mulder-san from hiding inside of his own body."

"A foul-weather-friend," suggested Nobuyuki.

"I'll keep my eyes long before I accept Ryoko-san without reservations," Scully sounded like she hoped Nobuyuki was right, "once the newness wears off we'll see how long she sticks around."

"I don't know, Ninjin-chan," Nobuyuki's faith in his words, "from the first night they met, there seems to be a special bond between Ryoko-san and Mulder-san," then he decided to add a little intrigue to his statement, "one that spark a bit of jealousy in my musuko."

"Tenchi-san?" now it was Scully's turn to be surprised, "I know he is sexually attracted to Ryoko-san but I thought your son only wanted to be nice to her like he is with Sasami-chan and Ayeka-san."

"You know us, Masaki men," a teasing tone enveloped Nobuyuki's words, "when someone pulls on our heart strings, our asoke jumps."

Scully couldn't stop her cheeks from blushing and her voice became silkily soft, "When I and Mulder finish these two cases, do you think we could maybe . . ." she waited to hear him say the magic word.

"Go out on our first date?" Nobuyuki finished.

"Ee!" hope within hope in Scully's assertion.

"I don't see why not," Nobuyuki's happiness in his declaration, "you're as pure and as bright as a water drop."

Scully's bluish reached new levels of brightness and she mumbled, "I'm not that special."

"To the person whose heart you've stolen and to everyone who cares about you," Nobuyuki grinned, "you are."

I'll keep that in mind," Scully's words all fuzzy and warm, "and I'll call you when I get back, Sayonara, Inkushimi."

"Sayonara, Ninjin-chan," Nobuyuki put the phone down and let out a happy sigh.

"It looks like there's a wedding in Nobuyuki-kun's future," a voice came from his cubicle's entrance.

Startled from his joyful thoughts, Nobuyuki looked up to find the firm's owner, Ikegami Eiichi, the firm's senior secretary, Reiya, and Nobuyuki's office friend, Owatari Ryo, looking at him with various levels of smiles and grins. With his right hand going to the back of his head, Nobuyuki asked with a nervous laugh, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know you're not a widower anymore, Nobuyuki-kun," humor in Ryo's reply.

"And here I was," a false pout on Reiya's pretty face as she crossed her arms, "hoping to be the lucky girl to snag our best senior architect."

"Na, Watakushi-tachi! (C'mon, Guys!)" Nobuyuki stood up on weak legs, "this is embarrassing."

"That's what happens when you accept personal calls on company time," there was no hostility in Eiichi's voice, Nobuyuki noticed his boss was holding a new folder in his right hand as the older man added, "So who is the lucky girl?"

"She an old friend of the family," Nobuyuki's discomfort changed to knowing confidence, "I knew her when I was a teenager and she was a kodomo."

"A friend of Achika-san?" Reiya had known Nobuyuki and Achika when she was a teen and was one of the mourners at her funeral.

"Hai," Nobuyuki's acknowledged then the black-haired man reached down and used the computer's mouse to save the file to floppy disk before he continued, "Dewa, I better take this file over to the printers and have them produce the blueprints."

"Before you go, Nobuyuki-kun, I've got a bit of good news for you and the company," Eiichi held the folder out to Nobuyuki.

With uncertainty Tenchi's father took the folder and noticed it was labeled, Kurashiki School of Industry and Arts, this produced a surprised, "Nani?" from the tanned man.

"We've won the contract to rebuild the school," all three of the people in front of Nobuyuki were grinning from ear-to-ear while Eiichi continued his statement, "and I've decided to make you the chief architect for the project."

"Oi . . . ano . . . but Johji-kun is your most senior architect," Nobuyuki was confused by his boss' logic, "shouldn't he be in charge of the project?"

"Johji-kun is planning to retire at the end of this year," Eiichi held up one finger, "you've told me about going to that school and complained about how old the design was," he held up a second finger, "you also mentioned that you had already done some blueprints of the school the way you would've done it," Nobuyuki's boss held up a third finger, "and you told me your son was going to the school and I can't imagine a greater motivator than a father building something for his son."

All three there saw the ambition on Nobuyuki's face but the trio noticed a touch of a little sadness too, which in turn caused Reiya to nudge Eiichi with her right elbow. Eiichi gave a tentative look to the bespectacled woman who frowned slightly, because of this motivation Nobuyuki's boss cleared his throat to draw Nobuyuki's attention before saying, "So, Nobuyuki-kun, when is the Manabe Project going to be finished?"

"By the end of today," Nobuyuki tried to put up a brave front although he was thinking, 'I was hoping for a few days of light work so I could get home in time for dinner.'

"Gu," Eiichi nodded before adding, "I want you to dig up those old blueprints and ideas you had for your old school and update them," then he added with a wink, "I'm sure you can do this at your home as well as you can do them here."

Nobuyuki felt like his heart was about to burst and his enthusiasm caused him to go soldierlike while he shouted, "Hai! Buchou!"

"Gu," Eiichi nodded some more before he finished by saying, "I'll expect you to come in on Friday with a preliminary proposal so we can put our heads in order for next Monday."

"HAI!" Nobuyuki's excitement went up another notch then he added with a little more control, "If you will excuse me, I'll get this quickly to the printers."

The trio made room so Nobuyuki could pass between them, which allowed the man in the green shirt quickly leave the room, it was now Ryo said, "It's like what they say in the movie: love heals all wounds."

"Although I was hoping Nobuyuki-kun would solve one of my little problems," Eiichi sent a nervous glace Reiya's way while Ryo bit his tongue to keep from grinning.

"Aaaaa, anata, don't you like me anymore," Reiya's hurtful tone made false by the witchy look in her greenish blue eyes as her curvy body leaned against Eiichi, "I mean, I know parts of you still do."

"Dewa . . . ano . . ." Eiichi fumble-footed before his instinct for self-preservation kicked in, "of course I do, Rei-chan! Aya-chan, Yuki-chan and Chiaki-chan would never forgive me if I hurt you in any way!"

"You're so sweet, my samurai with his danbira (broad sword)," Reiya stood on her toes and kissed Eiichi on the left cheek, much to Ryo's amusement and a few gawks from the other office workers, then the woman in the sky-blue business suit walked around her boss while saying, "let me get your afternoon ocha ready and then I'll place your call to the Ministry of Education so you can tell them about your decision."

Eiichi and Ryo watched Reiya sashay toward her boss' private office, "Reiya-kun knows I dance to the tune she plays," the older man moaned, "and it's with Aya-chan's approval."

Ryo studied the moment before he guessed, "Aya-san is your official okusan and Reiya-san is your official aijin (love person)?"

"Aya-san and Reiya-san met at a New Year's party ten years ago," a mix of pleasure and pain on Eiichi's face," and I made a mistake of leaving them alone while I got both of them a drink."

"Oi," an eye-opener-look on Ryo's face, "they compared notes."

"I didn't know anything was going on until Aya-chan and I took the children to the Achi-jinja three days later," Eiichi face now took on the fear he felt on that day, "and I found Reiya-san waiting for us at the top of the stairs."

"You really lost your face da," Ryo gave his boss a sympathetic look.

"I remember thinking how kawaii Reiya-san looked in her sunshine yellow kimono with images of koneko-tachi (kittens) chasing each other on it," a dreamy look on Eiichi, "and I asked Reiya-san where her parents were, both she and Aya-chan giggled at my question and Aya-chan told me she invited Reiya-san to come to the jinja for New Year's blessings."

Something said by Eiichi earlier in the conversation caused Ryo's eyebrows to rise, "Ten years! That means Reiya-san was . . . aaa . . . young when she became your aijin."

"Doze! Keep your voice down," Eiichi whispered harshly as he looked around, those who were leaning out of their cubicles to caught more of the conversation suddenly found the work on their desk more important, the barrel-chested man returned his gaze to Ryo before he continued, "Since that day Reiya-san has become part of our family and our children call her, Reiya-mama."

"I'm surprised your okusan accepted Reiya-san so easily," the mix of pleasure and pain was back on Ryo boss' face, so the younger man inquired, "there's more to this than just Reiya-san being an official member of your family da?"

"Hai," Eiichi admitted with a broken smile, "once Reiya-san graduated from high school, Aya-chan 'convinced' me to hire her as my private secretary."

"To keep an eye on you?" Ryo wasn't completely surprised by this admission because for a forty-one-year-old man, his boss was a ramrod straight man with very little body fat.

"Partly," Eiichi sighed, "but also because Reiya-san has an excellent business mind which would ensure the survival of this company and provide a stable economic future for 'our' family," then he added with grin, "an example of her ability is my hiring Masaki-kun, she recommended it, I did it and this company has benefitted from it ever since."

"Even after your little comment," Ryo saw the care in Eiichi's black orbs, "you still sound like you in love with her."

"My whole body is scorched with the passion for Reiya-san as it does for Aya-chan," Eiichi's eyes never left the door to his private office, "and Reiya-san commitment, to Aya-chan and our children, is unweaving."

This last statement by Eiichi awoke another thought in Ryo and he asked, "Ten years and no shitei da?"

"Reiya-san can't have shitei," old sadness touched Eiichi's face as he replied, "my smart aijin has a six-inch scar on her belly but she won't tell me how it happened."

"Aya-san feels sorry for Reiya-san," new insight in Ryo's gaze, "and is willing to let her and your shitei to be Reiya-san's."

"Hai," Eiichi agreed as he took a deep breath, "Dewa, I better get back in there and drink my Sencha."

Ryo watched Eiichi leave him before the junior architect said, "The more I watch people, the more wonderful strange they become."

Akies Restaurant, Kurashiki

"Domo Arigato," said a perky waitress with Chinese silk hairnets that looked like twin buns in her deep red hair, "I'll bring your order here as soon as it's ready."

As the young girl bouncy walked away from the booth where Mulder sat next to Ryoko with Aoi was on the other side, the uchu kaizoku commented in English on where the American's pale green eyes were looking, "You know, Aoi, there should be a law against girls being that cute."

"She is nice looking," Aoi gave a calculating look at the departing waitress before returning her gaze to Ryoko, "but after the initial meeting I think a man will find the woman of proper manners more appealing."

Ryoko's amber eyes narrowed as her annoyed gaze locked on the policewoman, "Aoi, you sound like a certain prissy prin . . ." further words from the ample woman were stopped when Mulder placed his left hand on her right thigh.

"I want to thank you for helping me with the menu, Japanese looks like chicken scratches to me," Mulder's grateful words picked up the slack of Ryoko's interrupted words.

The uchu kaizoku tilted her cyan-haired head, allowed a savoring look to capture her features as she rested her right hand on his left, her inner temptation softened her voice, "you could've used the pictures to order."

"And miss that protective look you gave Futaba when she tried to help," Ryoko gave the American a you-got-to-be-kidding look before she picked up his hand and placed it back in the agent's lap.

Aoi watched the warm smile appear on Mulder's face equaled by the little grin on Ryoko's face and the arm motion by both of them suggested a little hanky-panky going on underneath the tablecloth, but before the green-eyed lady could say anything, a call of nature occurred, "Excuse me, sir, but I need to use the washroom to freshen-up."

Mulder nodded but Ryoko watched Aoi head for the bathrooms, letting out a little laugh when the policewoman almost hesitated at the men's bathroom before going into the women's.

"Hmmm?" Mulder gave Ryoko questioning looking.

"Nothing," Ryoko shook her head before adding, "You have very interesting why of stopping someone from spilling the beans."

"Well, I didn't want you to frighten the horses," Mulder glanced around to make sure no one was listening to them, "besides you have such nice firm thighs."

"Ahhh, I'll bet you say that to all the female aliens," Ryoko grinned before adding, "and here I thought you were into the-truth-is-out-there jazz."

"I am," the humor in Mulder's eyes turned somber, "it's just since Scully and I ran into you and your 'friends', your presence has reinforced my belief that what happened to me and my sister could well be the tip of a very dirty iceberg," with unconscious thought Mulder's left hand sought out and held Ryoko's right hand, "and the truth I will find is going to be a nightmare I won't wake up from."

"We'll help you find her, Mulder," Ryoko turned her left hand over and returned the squeeze, "just as we agreed to do and Goddess Tsunami will support us too."

The mention of the Juraijin goddess reminded Mulder of the little azure-haired princess and he asked, "Sasami is special to this goddess, this Tsunami?"

"Sasami is Tsunami's bondmate but that is only part of the reason why the goddess was angry," Mulder's expression went from questioning to confusion which prompted Ryoko to say, "What?"

"Eh . . . what is a . . ." Mulder's question is left unfinished as his mind locked on something his eyes saw, a long black Cadillac stopping in front of the Yashi No Ki Udon Shop, his profiler instincts clicked on and he asked Ryoko, "How common are American-made cars?"

"Rare actually, in fact expensive American cars are associated with the Yakuza," Ryoko remembered a mildly interesting television program she watched with Tenchi and the others, "Why you ask?"

"The black Caddy in front of eatery we left," Ryoko turned so she could stare out the window next to their booth, "you think your eyes can get a good look at its occupants?"

Mulder watched as Ryoko's eyes glowed with amber fluorescence before a cat's hiss escaped her red lips with words right behind it, "It's that Benkie guy from the hospital!"

"I'll bet they aren't getting the House Special," Mulder scooted out of the booth and shouted over his shoulder as he headed for the closest exit, "Get Futaba and tell her to come in as my backup for the front door, I wait you to cover the backdoor and prevent anyone from leaving!"

Ryoko whooped for joy, saying, "At LAST! Some ACTION!" Ryoko jumped into the air only to remember barely in time than she was in a restaurant, so with some trickery she appeared to run along the booth's backrest and she used her momentum to leap from one table to the next table so she could take a short cut to the women's bathroom, the shouts of surprise and anger from the parents mix with squealing delights from the children disguised the fact that Ryoko's footfalls didn't even disturb the liquid in the customer's drinks. Once Ryoko entered the washroom, her extended senses showed only one person was inside besides her, someone in the farthest stall whose body gave off male pheromones.

Futaba Aoi was on the toilet with her hose and panties down at her ankles, her left hand was giving her ding-a-ling a final shake when a cyan-haired head phased through the cubicle's door, came nose-to-nose to her brown-haired head and said in Nihongo, "Break a bone, Aoi-san! The Yakuza is over at the udon shop and Mulder-san wants you as backup for the front door!" Aoi stared at the spot where Ryoko's head was until the head reappeared, took one look at the policewoman's crotch before girlishly saying, "Anata no gobo oishiso, Aoi-san, zenzen Tenchi no pinpin-chan muri kawaii wa yo (Aoi, your burdock looks quite tasty but Tenchi has the cutest, little Mr. Bong-Bong!)!"

Aoi had to grab onto the door of the stall with both hands as the policewoman forgot to pull up her hose and panties up before attempting to bolt from the enclosure.

Just before Mulder spotted the Cadillac, Mihoshi, Seto and Fuyumi were walking on the sidewalk in search of a nice place for Seto to treat the two girls to lunch before her godchild's new friend took the train back to Tokyo. When Mihoshi spotted Akies' big red lettered sign, she asked, "Fuyumi-san, is Akies a good place to eat?"

"Hai, they're a big chain," Fuyumi's words full of humor, "although one of their places in Akasaka-ku did get wrecked by a couple of disgruntled employees."

"Let's try . . ." Seto was interrupted when she saw a tall foreigner rush out of the aforementioned restaurant with a gun held high in his right hand, a badge held up with his left and shouting over the noise of the traffic, "POLICE! POLICE! POLICE!"

Those pedestrians and drivers who didn't understand what the man was saying did understand the gun and the badge, both meant getting out of the way, people cleared a path and cars stopped as the brown-haired man ran across the street and take up a position on the right side of the front door of a udon shop.

"Ano . . ." Mihoshi's was about to comment when her ears went up due to the sound caused by teleportation and she looked up in time too caught the pink-clad figure of Ryoko dropping on top of the udon shop's roof. Seto had followed her godchild's line-of-sight and saw the cyan mane before it dropped out of sight.

"Ara?" Maybe because of instinct Fuyumi kept to a one word utterance which was followed by the sight of a brown-haired woman charging out of the same exit as had the foreigner, holding up her own badge with her right hand, shouting, "KEISATSU! KEISATSU! KEISATSU!" As before people stepped aside and cars stopped although the looks of some of the males betrayed thoughts conjured by watching what some considered to be a well-shaped woman in a tight-fitted policewoman's uniform.

The trio watched the two police officers take up the usual stance for going into a room, the blue uniformed woman going in low while the plainclothesman going in high, with a timed move to go with the female officer turning the doorknob and lightly pushed the door open, the man jumped in first to be followed by his female partner.

During this whole event Seto kept glancing at Mihoshi, the Jurain saw the mix of excitement and longing in her godchild's features, besides her own inquisitiveness was stirred so the tall princess whispered softly into Mihoshi's left ear, "Himawari, why don't you go and find out why Ryoko-dono isn't taking care of Sasami ne?"

It was like every candle in the universe lit up behind Mihoshi's baby blues and she hugged Seto before taking off. Car drivers and their passengers must have thought a marathon was taking place as they watched an ebony woman dressed in green go zigzagging from one car hood to another car hood before landing beside the udon shop's opened door. Careful to peek in, the GP officer found the room held several cowering patrons along with a foreigner and the policewoman, who were on each side of the noren-covered entryway to the kitchen.

Seto smiled with pride at her godchild's dedication but her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a call from her bondmate. Fuyumi was stunned by Mihoshi's display of athletic skill before turning back to Seto, saying, "Seto-san, please accept . . . Oi!" The giantess discovered that Seto was gone.

Neither Mulder nor Aoi realized someone was following them, their attention was rightly focused on what was happening in the kitchen, two middle-aged couple were in the far right corner, seated in the middle of the prep table was a three-feet-tall man slurping down noodles from a ceramic bowl that was almost as big as his head, standing beside him was a mountain of a man, who was easily six feet tall and weighting in at Refrigerator Perry level. Beside the prep table there was the huge vat of boiling water used for the udon noodles, the freezer box, numerous bags of flour as well as various other items you would find in a noodle shop's kitchen.

The short guy slurped down another mouthful of buckwheat noodles before saying, "Ima, don't worry so much about your son, our boss won't harm one hair on his head as long he answers some questions," from the doorway to the living quarters came the sound of breaking glass and the black-haired man added with a grin, "it looks like your son isn't being very cooperative."

The older woman gave a motherly cry which brought Mulder and Aoi out of their cover, with the American taking up a firing stance with his gun on the man-mountain while Aoi was opposite the small guy but neither of their targets was taken completely by surprise because the next thing Mulder knew a bowl of hot udon hit him in the face. The speed the man-mountain caught Aoi's attention and Mulder just cleared the noodles from his dripping face when a meaty hand backhanded the gun out of the American's numbed fingers. The buzz of something close by caused Aoi to step back and her right hand picked up the rolling pin from the prep table, the short man almost nailed the policewoman with a stun gun he had pulled out of his coat pocket. The short man made another stab at Aoi before rolling onto his feet so he could stand on the table but it was a mistake on his part because it allowed the green-eyed woman to use her wooden weapon to pin the stun gun to the black-eyed man's chest and depress the trigger at the same time, the short one's body took on the characteristics of Jell-O and he flopped head first onto the table's top.

Mulder's part of the melee wasn't going in his favor, the loss of his gun and the man-mountain's athleticism caused the FBI agent to say one of the few Nihongo words he knew, "Sumo?"

The big guy stopped for a moment and gave Mulder a slight bow before his massive left hand barely missed smacking the agent's head off his shoulders. Seeing he was outweighed by a couple of a hundred pounds of muscle and fat, Mulder deduced it was time to bring out the other equalizer and in the same moment as his opponent's miss, the policeman jammed his right foot into the man-mountain's gonads. The mass of bone and tendon froze but then a shark's grin appeared on the big man's ugly face.

"HOLY BRASS MONKEY BALLS!" this was Mulder's reaction to his ineffective blow followed by him dropping onto the tiled floor to avoid the grab of two huge hands and he rolled underneath the man-mountain, there the agent wrapped his arms and legs around the tree trunk-sized legs. The American tried regain his composure as he looked for where his gun fell but his head stopped moving when a massive hand clapped down on his neck, Mulder had a bad feeling he was about to find out what a chicken felt when the farmer wrings its neck.

Aoi saw the predicament Mulder was in, so putting every bit of speed and muscle she could summon, the policewoman rammed the man-mountain's butt with her right shoulder, the results were what she had hoped for, the big guy's attempt to get at Mulder left him in such an awkward posture that he fell halfway into the vat of boiling water. The dreadful roar from of the kitchen broke the morale of the customers and the shop's dinning area was instantly deserted except for the green-clad woman looking underneath the hanging noren of the kitchen entrance. Mihoshi knew she had only seconds to react, her police instincts told her the policewoman had done would only delay the massive man from snapping Mulder's neck in two, in the vastness of her soul, the ebony lady knew a life had to be taken to save a life.

On her hands and knees, Aoi watched the man-mountain try to lift his blistered head out of the raging water only to have an ebony woman leap come through the noren and use both of her hands to plunge the somo wrestler's head back into the scalding liquid. The policewoman jade eyes watched as one hand let go of Mulder's neck and the massive body quaked while both hands slapped and clawed at the blond-haired woman, the sounds of tearing cloth and watery screams filled the air. Aoi rolled to her feet and tried to reach the blonde but was batted down onto the ground by the man-mountain's left hand and she lay there with stars in her eyes. Time seemed to move at a snail's pace before the colossus sag against the vat, drop to his knees and his arms fell to his side.

Mulder let out a sigh, "Thank God," and tried to wiggle out from underneath the dead weight but then the agent cursed, "Shit!" He was pinned under those muscular knees.

Up on the roof, Ryoko watched the backdoor and the alley, the cyan-haired woman was sure Mulder believed her abilities would allow her to capture anyone trying to leave with ease but she also feared Mulder didn't trust her enough to take her into the heat of battle, that she might kill first and ask questions later. 'I've got to prove to Mulder,' a little pain mixed along with the confidence Ryoko felt, 'I do remember what Handover taught me.'

This train of thought was interrupted when a chair shattered the window belonging to Nakayama's bedroom with the youth right behind it. A voice Ryoko recognized as Benkie's ordered, "Bring him back in one piece!"

When Nakayama landed a gasp of pain came from his lips and Ryoko watched the young man favoring his left leg as he limped away, then leaping out the same window dropped two men dressed in tailored business suits. Ryoko's orbs took on a cat's hunting gaze and in a bounding leap she landed facing the made men with their target a few feet behind her, the pink clad woman looked over her right shoulder and told Nakayama with a confident air, "Naka-san, sit down and get with a bag of popcorn," she looked back at the Yakuza with glee, "this is going be fun!"

Both men paused to look back at the window where Benkie stood flanked by two of his senior lieutenants, this pause gave a moment for Ryoko to think, 'I can't pound these guys like I want to but watching my double having all that fun with Sasami-chan is really putting ants-in-my-pants,' the man on Benkie's left gave a nod so they returned their attention to the lady-in-pink where the men the uchu kaizoku had taken up a boxer's stance, her ample body bobbing-and-weaving as she bounced on her toes. The two men exchanged looks that suggested they thought the woman was a nut which in turn brought a taunt out of Ryoko, "I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, no flies on my face unlike yours, because I'm Ryoko Hakubi!"

Of the two made men facing Ryoko, the one who looked like he was having a love affair with some dumbbells seemed to know enough English to take exception to Ryoko's flies-on-shitface comment, he charged forward while the other man waited. Up in Nakayama's room the man on Benkie's right said with contempt, "This shouldn't take long, after all she's only an akapori."

"I don't know, Shinichi-kun," the man on Benkie left commented, "she doesn't look afraid."

"A 10,000 yen note that Eiji-san will lay out the poriman . . ." Shinichi's mouth stopped moving when a blurred left uppercut from Ryoko lifted the bald man's jaw up and sent the rest of him down onto the blacktop.

"Done," Benkie said with a studious expression on his face, the butch-haired man on the right still looked like a gasping fish while the man on the left with every finger fitted with heavy gold rings just chuckled.

The remaining made man couldn't believe his companion had been dropped by one blow, his stick-like body looked thinner than bamboo and was doing its best to keep clear of Ryoko as she leaned over the unconscious man before she looked up at Benkie to say with disgust, "Kuso! Don't you have anything better than these uke (receivers)?"

Being called a cunt by a woman was all the motivation the thin man needed, with precise steps the made man closed with Ryoko and aimed a straight finger jab for the woman's throat. The woman's eyes were amber bright as she slipped left, his pinkie finger of his jab brushed her skin but his instincts became mushy as her right hand landed a counterpunch to his right ear. Bells and lights were what his senses told his brain as his body staggered backwards and his right hand went to his ear and felt something wet there.

"Chikusho!" Ryoko was angry with herself as she waited for her opponent to clear the cobwebs from his mind, "I want this to last at least to the second round!"

The thin man stared for a half-a-minute before he saw the blood on his hand, then his awareness was pulled to Ryoko saying in English as she continued her bob-and-weave, "Ring-ding-ding, we're in a fight but you're no Smokin' Yosho, indeedy not!"

It had to be in the blood or maybe it was his Nihonjin macho male attitude that told him that no woman could beat a man, although the evidence to the contrary was on the ground. Whichever way you want to look at it, the thin man attacked Ryoko, first a faint with a right haymaker that allowed him to use its momentum to create a right-to-left spin kick with his left leg. It probably would have worked against anyone who didn't have any hand-to-hand combat experience but Ryoko saw it coming from a-mile-away so she crouched under the swinging leg, sprigged up like a Jack-in-a-Box and turned the man's head into a punching bag.

The thin man just stood there, if he had any sense in his black-and-blue head he would be on the ground, keeping company with his unconscious buddy, instead he just stood there with gazed puffy eyes. For her part, Ryoko studied the man for a moment before deciding the match was almost over, so the uchu kaizoku lined up her right fist with the man's jaw, cocked her punch before saying in English, "Say goodnight, Gracie."

Nakayama had watched for a second before he decided the cyan-haired woman was a suicidal maniac and hobbled away as quickly as he could in hopes of getting out of the alley and disappearing into the bipedal traffic. Fuyumi was wandering around the city block where the udon shop was located, the giantess had mixed feelings about looking for her companions, she really wanted to get back home but she didn't want to abandon her two new acquaintances, both Mihoshi and Seto were nice people although both acted strange at times, the blonde acted strange at random moments and Seto would ask personal questions, like did she have a sweetheart, yet what mattered most for the fourteen-year-old was neither one of them treated her like a freak. So Fuyumi was using her height to look for a blond-haired head or a jade green-haired head in a sea of black heads when she neared the right side of the alley's entrance.

The first thing Nakayama discovered when he rounded the corner was his face buried in a field of brown cloth while hearing a startled gasp from above. The young man looked up and up and up to a pair of smoldering black eyes surrounded by a halo of brown hair, his surprise caused him to say, "Girilla?"

It was the wrong thing to say. Fuyumi didn't put anything behind her right uppercut, it was all arm strength but it was enough to lift Nakayama out of his shoes and put him into La-La-Land.

Fuyumi's body was shaking with fury as she looked down at Nakayama but she jumped when a relieved voice said, "There you are!" The giantess stood there as she watched a woman in a pink business suit walk up to the unconscious young man, reach down with her right hand and took hold of him by the collar while she continued to talk, "You should've eaten that popcorn like I told you to, Mitsu-san," bright amusement in her catlike eyes.

"Ryoko-dono finds such joy in her work," Fuyumi jumped again and turned in midair to find Seto at her right elbow, like the blue-haired lady had appeared from out of nowhere.

Back in the kitchen Mulder scanned the room for anything within reach to lever the dead weight that pinned him to the white tiled floor, Aoi was gently consoling the couple, while the blond newcomer sat on a stool next to a stack of floor bags, the American would have made a compliment of the ebony woman's gorgeous breasts peaking out of her green shirt's tattered remains but her grief-stricken stare stopped him.

"It seems I'm minus a few men," Mulder craned his neck back to see the source of those English words, it was Benkie coming down the stairs with his one made man in front while another brought up the rear.

"You can always stay and file a police brutality complaint?" suggested Mulder; the FBI agent spotted his gun underneath the refrigerator.

"Me," a predatory smile on the Yakuza's face, "inside a police station, I don't think so."

"What," Mulder returned the smile, "you don't trust us?"

"The first step into a police station is the first step into a prison," Benkie waved an index finger at Mulder.

"What about your injured men?" Mulder watched Benkie make his way across the kitchen.

Benkie looked at his soldier's corpse before saying, "The loss of manpower has been replaced by the gain of knowledge," one of his lieutenant's parted the noren while his boss paused to give Mihoshi a leer while saying, "and I must say your women have been most entertaining, especially the tough talking one," suddenly Aoi stepped in front of Mihoshi and gave Benkie a very disapproving look, the criminal gave the policewoman a measured look before adding, "a most entertaining group."

"What about Nakayama?" Mulder shouted at Benkie's back.

"Just ask the kid about his normal patrol route," Benkie said over his shoulder and everyone in the kitchen heard the front door open and close while at the same time the backdoor opened and closed.

"Futaba!" fear knotted Mulder's stomach at what might be Benkie's clear-up-crew, "My gun is underneath the freezer!"

Aoi made a drive for the icebox, her nose banged hard on the floor as her left hand reached under the machine and touched the gun's handle, then the brown-haired lady let out a sigh of relief when she heard Ryoko's voice, "Boy, it looks like you guys had as much fun as I did!"

Mulder saw the happiness in Ryoko's lively orbs as well as her dragging Nakayama by the collar, it was with this image in mind the agent commented, "I hope you didn't hurt our witness?"

"Nah!" Ryoko waved her free hand dismissively, "But there is a couple of Benkie's flunkies outside whom I rope-a-doped."

Knowing Ryoko must've watched the special on Muhammad Ali that TV Ashi showed a couple of weeks ago, Mulder grinned as he said, "You're the greatest."

"That's what I keep telling Tenchi . . ." Ryoko's voice stopped as her amber eyes locked on Mihoshi for the first time, she let go of Nakayama and bounced over to the ebony woman while asking, "Blonde! When did you join the party?"

Mihoshi gave no response, her eyes never leaving the corpse and her face a prisoner of her inner demons. Ryoko followed the GP officer's gaze, the cyan-haired woman knew instantly what cage the ebony woman's soul was in because she had occupied it once too and she knew the solution.

Aoi noted Ryoko's interest and said as she stood up with Mulder's gun in her left hand, "The woman saved us," her jade green eyes glance at the corpse.

The policewoman's answer showed to Ryoko that Aoi and most likely Mulder didn't know Mihoshi was an intergalactic peace officer, so the ample woman replied, "Her name is Kuramitsu Mihoshi and I know how to snap her out of this funk," Ryoko pulled back her right hand and backhanded Mihoshi's face, "Ouch!" Ryoko shook her hand to vent both her surprise and her pain, "Mihoshi, what's your jaw made of, spent ultra-energy?"

Both Aoi and Mulder were shocked by the extreme of Ryoko's action but the uchu kaizoku was satisfied by the surprised hurt look on Mihoshi's face although the unshed tears in the blonde's eyes did bother her. Out of the blue an idea popped in Ryoko's mind, she didn't know where it came from but she did like it, so without warning the cyan-haired woman bent down and licked the tears away from the Galaxy Police officer's eyes.

Surprise compounded surprise for Aoi and Mulder as both saw Ryoko's second act followed by Mihoshi's second reaction, gone was the pain and despair from the ebony woman's face as she threw her arms around the ample woman's neck and hugged the cyan-haired head to her bare chest, her words electrified with a million-watt-joy, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, thank YOU, thank you!"

"You . . . you're welcome," Ryoko was taken aback by Mihoshi's strong gratitude although the uchu kaizoku did savor the softness, warmth and pleasant aroma of the policewoman's round mounds.

"How did you know?" Mihoshi's voice was honey sweet.

"Know about what?" Ryoko was also thinking what Mihoshi would do if she nibbled on the nipple that was just an inch away from her mouth.

"About the Seniwa's way of sharing grief," it might or might not have surprised Ryoko if she knew Mihoshi was enjoying the feel of the silky cyan hair against her bare skin.

"I just knew," Ryoko decided on a safer option and returned Mihoshi's hug.

'Lucky stiff,' Mulder thought, when he noticed Aoi was getting all misty eyed, the American decided it was time to bring everyone back to reality, "So Ryoko, you know this blonde bombshell?"

Ryoko opened her mouth to reply but another voice answered the question slowly in phonic English, "She is Detective Mihoshi Kuramitsu, formerly of the River Heights Police Department."

Mulder craned his neck once more and saw a blue-haired woman reading from an opened folder, beside her stood a young girl who was well over six-feet in height, then the American remembered his own situation, "Could someone help me up?"

Makoto's Apartment, Azabu Juuban, Tokyo

It had taken Hoshi Nanase five seconds to conclude that the story told by the two girls in front of her was the truth because she easily recognized Kino Makoto's spidery handwriting on the note. The wife of the apartments' manager took pride in her motherly attention she gave the boarders and Makoto was a special case, a fourteen-year-old without parents and the rest of her family living in Kyoto was such a sad thing, especially since the tall ginger-haired girl was kicked out of her school but even this dark cloud had a silver lining, Nanase saw the new friends Makoto gained at Juuban Junior High School and now two more seemed to have joined this little group. Furthermore the two girls anxiously waiting for her judgment fitted the collection of strange girlfriends Makoto was attracting, the older girl with the purple hair and ruby eyes had the pose of a well-trained lady while the youngest girl with the flaming red hair, gold skin and colorless eyes screamed yankee to the middle-aged woman. With a small smile the salt-and-pepper haired woman asked, "So Makoto-san did get to her train on time?"

Ayeka decided it was prudent to find the landlord first and tell him or her about Makoto allowing them to use the apartment while the girl was gone. The first princess was somewhat disappointed that the apartments were owned by an absentee landlord but was glad the manager's wife had the authority to make decisions on the owner's behalf, so with the proper tone, the Jurain said, "I believe so, Hoshi-sama, since Kino-san seemed very determine to get to it."

"I have a hunch Makoto-san wouldn't let the train leave without her," Ohiten put in her two-cents with a grin.

Nanase chuckled lightly while Ayeka gave Ohiten a disapproving smile but before anything else happened, the elder said, "Let's go to Makoto's apartment ne."

"Hai," both women answered and followed in the older woman's wake.

Going up in the staircase Nanase asked, "So Ohiten-san, you've had the same luck with school as Makoto-san ne?"

"You mean fighting and getting kicked out?" shortest of the three nodded and the golden girl added, "Ee."

"I didn't know Kino-san had such troubles," Ayeka was taken aback by this revelation because she couldn't believe how such a helpful person like Makoto was also a troublemaker.

"It's because of her royshin death," up the stairs the trio went as Nanase spoke, "they died four years ago and from her visiting relatives I've learned she took it hard."

Once more, the feathery sweep of death's black wing left a chill in Ayeka's soul, once more, her dark fears of the past month seep into her spirit, its seductive words of melancholy filled her mind so much that it wasn't until a voice called her name that the princess realized a pair of golden arms were holding her by the knots of her shoulders. Ayeka looked up into the concern face of Ohiten, who simply asked, "Grace, you're oke, you looked like you're about to faint?"

"Gomen nasai," Ayeka saw the worry on Nanase's face, "today's excitement must be catching up with me."

"I'll bring a kettle of yarrow ocha after you two have settled in," relief was in Nanase's voice but her dark eyes showed approval of Ohiten's care for Ayeka, the elder's opinion of the yankee girl went up a notch.

"Domo arigato, Hoshi-san," Ayeka then felt the vibration of Ohiten's silent giggles and so she asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Grace," Ayeka's eyes narrow at Ohiten's vague answer so the golden girl sighed before asking, "Oneesama, how's your period?"

Ayeka opened her mouth to tell Ohiten it wasn't any of her business when she remembered the sisterly roles they had assumed, with a glare at her 'sister', the princess made-a-do of counting on her fingers before answering, "It's six days away."

"Dewa, the yarrow ocha will still help balance your ki, Ayeka-san," a puzzled tone in Nanase's words for she wondered how the youngest sister, the one who seemed all caught up in today's trends, knew about the medicinal benefits of yarrow flowers for the female body, while the oldest sister, the one who seemed to have immersed her persona in traditional values, didn't.

To say the least Ayeka's thoughts were confused, 'my period, my ki, what are they talking about?' But this distraction did lessen the fear of despair and depression from the princess and she decided a little truth here would clear things up, "It's just I was raised with loving ryoshin and who were always there to help me and my sisters but now that we are staying with our relatives here in Nihon, I'm finding children without an okasan or an otousan or without both, in some cases it's the ojiisama and/or the obasama have taken up the burden to raise their grandchild."

"You were born under a lucky star, Ayeka-san, many children don't have the chance to know their ryoshin," Nanase observed, the elder also perceived an intent look on Ohiten's face and she thought, 'Hen ne, the youngest seem very interested in her sister's words, like she hadn't heard them before.'

It was Ohiten who noticed the awkward silence and clicked into yankee mode, "Ne ne, Grace, let's get to the apartment, I want to see if Makoto-san has any nauii clothes."

Ayeka rolled her eyes and Nanase smiled and then Ayeka blushed as she found Ohiten helping her up the stairs, the princess' words had a whiny plea, "Suzuri, you don't have to help me, I do not have snake legs."

"I wasn't the one who almost kissed the stairs," Ohiten tightened her grip on Ayeka as she added, "Besides oneechan, this allows me to repay for the number of times you carried me upon your back wa yo."

The retort Ayeka was going to use died on her lips, the princess' blush was as red as her lips and with little conscious effort the purple-haired lady's right arm slipped around Ohiten's waist and gave the golden girl a half hug. This act caused Nanase to think, 'They are bonding,' then she put her thought into words, "you act like you haven't seen each other for a long time?"

"Iie," Ayeka replied first, "It's just we have drifted away from each other, our staying with our ojisan is the first time we have been under the same roof in a long time."

"Although sharing the same room with my oneesama and my imoto," a hint of mischief in Ohiten's voice, "does put a kink in my wings."

"So you have an imotosan?" the small group reach Makoto's apartment door and Nanase fished out the spare key.

"Hai," Ayeka replied happily, "Her name is Sasami."

"Ee," a huge grin on the golden girl's face, "she's a real eye of ocha."

The giggles of Ayeka and Nanase were added to by the metallic click of a key in a lock, the elder opened the door and walked in with both girls right behind her, the gray-haired woman saying, "I'm glad Makoto-san is making such good friends, especially after I heard rumors that she once joined a bosozoku (a motorcycle gang)."

"Ara?" Ayeka's words matched her confused look.

"A bosozoku is a band of juvenile delinquents that drive either motorcycles or gaudy painted automobiles," Nanase explained then a puzzled look appeared on her face as she asked, "Don't you have them where you grew up?"

"Iie," Ayeka shook her purple-haired head, "otousan wouldn't have put up with them."

"Ne ne, Grace," Ohiten jumped in to stop Nanase next question, "you know Papa wouldn't do anything to them, just look at me."

Ohiten quick thinking caused Ayeka to realize her slip-of-the-tongue so the princess quickly retorted with tongue-in-cheek, "That is only because you are otousan's favorite."

"But you're Mama's favorite," Ohiten countered with a wide grin, "her Oujo-chan."

"Suzuri!" Ayeka fired back but the sight of dancing laughter in Ohiten's colorless eyes dissolved the princess' straight face into giggles, which were matched by her sister's giggles.

'It will be amusing to see how you will interact with Makoto-san's other friends especially Usagi-san and Rei-san,' Nanase thought as she led them into the family room, the furniture was totally Western with a long couch, corner tables, end tables, a long oak coffee table and several multicolored beanbags. Ohiten was about to ask Nanase about Makoto's friends when her attention was captured by what she saw on the tables, plants. Both Ayeka and Nanase were caught off-guard by the golden girl's quick motion to the closest plant then to the next plant and the next plant before she let out a squeal of excitement before saying, "This yellow tsubaki (camellia) is a Saint Marie and that white yuri (lily) is a Casablanca Velvet and those purple-blossomed orchids are Alexia's Love, they're all awarded plants!"

Once more Ayeka was caught up in the paradox of Makoto's personality, a tall girl full of rage and full of the knowledge about beauty, the princess came out of her spell when Nanase asked with a knowing smile, "Ohiten-san, would you like to know the reason?"

"Ee, ee!" Ohiten turned to face Nanase and gave several vigorous nods.

Nanase gave an underhand wave with her right hand and both young women followed the elder woman to a door where she led them in, Ohiten led out another excited squeal while Ayeka gave a more dignified sound of awe, the room was full of tables, some with mini-greenhouses with low power sunlamps over them and a forest of tiny saplings inside of them, one table had a ton of glass beakers with a layer of gray material and a layer of spiky green shoots inside them. A couple of tables had clay and plastic pots of various sizes and bags of potting soil leaning against their legs. Amongst the tables was a bookcase in the far right corner a three-by-three alcove next to it.

It took superhuman effort for Ohiten and Ayeka to hold their tongues while Nanase took them over to this room's bathroom, once more sounds of awe left them when the opening of the bathroom door revealed it had been converted to a clean room with various types of lab equipment including an electro-microscope. The elder turned to face her companions before asking, "Ojosans, what do you think?"

"It's a horticultural lab!" Ohiten was the first out of the starting gate

"I agree with my imoto's assessment," Ayeka seconded, "our family is responsible for similar facilities."

"My otto helped Makoto-san convert this spare bedroom into what you see," Nanase black eyes full of approval, "and he told me most of the equipment you see belong to her ryoshin."

"So Makoto-san is honoring them by continuing their work?" the tone in Ayeka's question showed she felt a kinship for the tall girl.

"Partly," Nanase guided them over to the alcove, "but I've seen Makoto-san's green eyes glow when she is with her plants, she truly loves them."

Ohiten was the first to react at what she saw inside the alcove mostly because Nanase wanted to gauge their actions, the golden girl clapped her hands twice and bowed her head over them in silent prayer, like many times before Nanase felt warm inside whenever a youth showed respect for their ancient ways and she followed suit. Ayeka was surprised but quickly followed the others' lead, after five minutes all three looked up, in the alcove was a picture of two people, a young woman with ginger hair and a man with brown hair with both dressed in traditional clothing, to the left of the picture was a memorial tablet with spidery written kanjis upon it, on the picture's right was a six-inch tall stature of the Buddha, draped over the picture was a string of black beads and the last item stood in front of the picture, a highly decorative oblong brass incense burner. It was Ayeka who spotted the box of incense and a box of matches on the bookcase and to make up for her tardiness, Ayeka stepped over, carefully opened the container, pulled out the long gray rod, inserted it in the burner and lit it.

As the scent of wildflowers filled the air, Ohiten touched the memorial tablet and read the words, "Although we are separated, we are still together."

Taking another moment to enjoy the fragrance the trio left the room and in the hallway, Nanase said, "Dewa, I'll leave you two to settle in but I must say I've enjoyed meeting such nice ojosans like you two," Nanase's face showed no deceit, "so many of our youth have forgotten our traditional ways yet even with your gaijin features, you each have shown honor and respect for them."

"To forget one's traditions is to become a tree without roots," Ayeka's smile matched her knowing tone, "even the most gentle of breezes will topple it."

"Besides Daddy would tan our hides when we did," Ohiten dropped in the kicker.

It was too good of opportunity to waste so Nanase teased, "Is that why your skin is golden?"

Ohiten laughed loudly while Ayeka giggled behind her right hand, then the golden girl said, "I left myself open to that one."

Nanase grinned before saying with a bow, "Sayonara."

"Sayonara," replied Ayeka while Ohiten said, "Mata ne," both returned the bow.

Once the door closed, Ohiten faced Ayeka and asked, "Grace, where do you want to start?"

"I should call home to let them know I have arrived safely," Ayeka said.

"Oke," Ohiten agreed as she slipped between the crouch and the coffee table, "while you're doing it, I'll be setting up Daddy's laptop."

Ayeka's eyebrows went up when she saw Ohiten take off her coat and open compartments located in the lining, one after another several dark gray plastic sections were taken out which caused the princess to think, 'Because of my enhancements, I didn't notice Ohiten's coat was heavier than normal.'

Ohiten saw the look on Ayeka's face, the golden girl had a hunch what caused it and decided to deflect the princess' line of thought before she wondered how a twentysomething woman could carry forty plus pounds of computer equipment without showing any fatigue, "Would you like me to make the call for you, Grace?"

Ayeka's back stiffened and her voice was indignant, "I'm not that dependent on servants, Suzuri," the princess stalked to where she had seen the telephone, with her back to Ohiten the Jurain effectively hid her apprehension as she picked up the receiver, Tenchi showed her how to use the phone and taught the purple-haired lady the Masaki home phone number but this would be Ayeka's first time, it would be a lie if she didn't feel a little apprehension as she held the receiver in her left hand while carefully pressing the buttons with her right.

Ohiten smiled when Ayeka's shoulders slump in relief but as she connected the computer's components together, a serious look took over the golden girl's features as she thought, 'After I decided to save the child, Daddy's instincts told me I needed to move faster but I didn't have time to henshin, then I felt a sharp pain from my right ear and suddenly I knew of another way,' once the pieces were together, the golden girl lifted the LCD screen up, the reflection showed her face but her attention was on the collection of tiny crosses hanging from her lone earring, 'before bullets, shrapnel and blasts would knock Daddy off his feet and shed his clothes but leave no wounds on his body,' her colorless eyes full of worry, 'Daddy was always sad the experiment changed him so much and now he knows why it did,' her right hand reached up and ran the crosses through her fingers, 'but I know Daddy doesn't blame me for what happened and I'm happy he accepted me as his daughter,' the teenager looked at her left hand like it was something to be fearful of, 'yet I'm afraid the future will hurt him.'

Ayeka's return caused Ohiten to bury her concern yet the golden girl saw the surprised and pleased look on the princess' face, so Ohiten asked, "You seem happy ne?"

Ohiten's voice pulled Ayeka out of her deep thinking, "I had some doubts about the komori I picked to take care of Sasami, but Katsuhito-sama assured me she was doing an excellent job."

With a light tap Ohiten turned on the laptop but at the same time she noted the slight disappointing tone in Ayeka's answer, "You hoped something bad would happen to your imoto?"

Ayeka opened her mouth but stopped her denial from coming out for she felt her soul stirring, something telling her she shouldn't lie to kin, even to one who was only pretending, "I'm supposed to forgive her, Suzuri," the princess' voice touched with guilt, "I'm supposed to scoop up the oni onna feelings with my hands and understand she was only a tool used by another," a diamond hard anger filled her ruby eyes, "but I can't, I remember the beauty she destroyed, I remember the people she killed."

From MacClean's memories Ohiten knew Ayeka was talking about Ryoko, since he recorded Ryoko's conversation with Mulder at the bar, how the uchu kaizoku told the detective of her feats of death and destruction and the fiend she once worked for, so while the laptop was booting up Ohiten took a deep breath before she begin to talk, "My ojiisan, Daddy's papa, was a polite, good-natured man who would tell me and my siblings stories about his life but one time I noticed he didn't talk much about his mama or his papa, so one night when I was alone with him, I asked about them. He told me about how they would beat him, how his father cared more about his dogs than his children, how his mother would beat him to convince the other children to behave and how his nose was turned into a fountain of blood by his father's fist. When his parents devoiced, ojiisan went to live with his paternal ojiisan and obasan but the terror didn't end. He was afraid he would be forced to live with one of his parents again but it was the berserker's rage his parents sowed in his soul he feared most because it could turn him into them. So instead of hating them for all eternality he tried to care for them, instead of calling for heaven's justice he asked for God's forgiveness, instead of giving into the frenzy of killing his parents with his own hands he tamed his inner beast with understanding. When ojiisan told me about his parents I didn't see a child's love for his parents in his face but the tone showed he understood them, his voice showed he did forgive them."

Listening to Ohiten's story Ayeka's anger was cooled by her own disbelief, it was a foreign notion to the princess of anyone beating a child, her parents never did and she never saw any grownup beat a child. When she was a child, punishment for being bad was sitting in a corner followed by more homework from her tutors along with having a polite conversation with one of her parents, just the idea of something like what happened to Ohiten's grandfather made the first princess sick to her stomach. At the same time her mind grasped the reason the golden girl told her the story, her voice saying, "He took the unpleasant experiences of his childhood and turned it into a good influence for the rest of his life," then a little of her fury returned and she asked, "but what about those who died?"

Ohiten knew she had to be careful here because if she showed her knowledge of Ayeka's and the others' situation, it would jeopardize her mission, so she asked, "Has this person been punished?"

Ayeka wanted to say no but she remembered the cold and the darkness of Ryoko's cave near the Masaki Shrine, the demon's prison for seven-hundred-years, and she closed her eyes, sighed and slowly nodded.

After giving the princess a calculating look and licking her lips, Ohiten said, "Then the first thing you need to do is to forgive the person named Masaki Ayeka."

"Nani?" Ayeka's eyelids popped up, the princess hadn't expected this suggestion.

Again Ohiten decided she couldn't reveal her knowledge and understanding was greater than what a normal teenager would be, the princess would get suspicious, so once more, the golden girl went with an example, "Makoto-san's little shrine to her ryoshin is very typical of her culture, ancestor worship is the oldest of the three pillars of Nihonjin religion. The picture showed she remembered her ryoshin, the Buddhist prayer beads showed her grief for their parting but also the solace she has found in ritual, the words on the memorial tablet showed she knows they are still a part of her life, the stature of the Buddha showed her faith that her ryoshin will find a better life when they are reincarnated and the incense burner showed her ongoing respect for them, her lab and her plants is a physical expression of her love."

For about five minutes Ayeka chewed on her lower lip as she though over what Ohiten had said while the golden girl put on a telephone operator's headset before the room filled with the sound of typing, then the First Princess of Jurai frowned before saying with distaste, "Suzuri, are you trying to tell me I will come out a better person because of that oni onna?"

Ohiten decided some humor might make a good cap to this line-of-thought, "How would I know, Grace," the golden girl glanced up and winked at Ayeka as she slipped on her yankee personality, "I'm just a koneko-chan (a little kitten) when compared to my oban oneechan (auntie big sister)."

With DOS up, Ohiten plug in the telephone jack and begin to type in the command to activate the modem so she didn't see the depth of emotion in Ayeka's ruby eyes. Down into the darkness of Ayeka's soul plunged the golden girl's words, the princess knew Ohiten was only pretending to be her sister and she knew once this mission was done Ohiten would leave, yet the impulse burning white her spirit told her only the present matter. If Ohiten had known what was going on next to her then she wouldn't have been surprised when something soft and wet kissed her forehead just below the hairline. The redhead's hands hovered over the laptop's keyboard, her mouth ready to catch flies while her ears heard the princess' heartfelt words, "I hope Sasami will grow up to be just like you."

The brain behind the bug-out colorless eyes thought, 'What did I do?'

Shiba-kouen Junior High School, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

"Rainy days and Mondays really suck," said the seated Minako in English, the normally perky blonde had her English language book open in front of her but it was the picture of Saijou Ace she used as a bookmarker that sank her spirit lower than her voice. Like many classes in Nihon, a causal observer would have noticed the room's walls were decorated with students drawn posters of upcoming school events and students made props.

Kasahara Hikaru inner self felt the pain she saw on Minako's face, the bright collection of Sailor V stickers on her friend's desk and the handmade Sailor-V chair cushion the dark-haired girl had given Minako only seemed to make her childhood friend's expression more gloomy. Since their English teacher was busy talking to their homeroom teacher, Hikaru plastered a happy expression on her pale face before saying in Nihongo, "It was a wonderful weekend, Mina-chan!"

Instead of knocking Minako out of her funk Hikaru watched with horror as her blond friend's face became sadder, in desperation Minako's closest girlfriend surged ahead, "I mean, it's just your life become like a fairy princess', Minako-chan," her words coming out faster and faster, "you went on a trip to Greece with your parents, you got to go to Britain on your own where you stayed with your aunt and her kawaii son, you won that talent contest and got to do that movie with Saijou . . ." Hikaru stopped when she saw tears pooling in Minako's eyelashes, then fourteen-year-old realized her mistake and continued, "Gomen nasai, Minako-chan, I didn't realize my words were silently killing you."

With superhuman effort Minako used the back of her right hand to rub the tears from her eyes before she flashed a reassuring smile to Hikaru, "It's oke, Hika-chan, I'm just a little down because I won't be able to go to police training until Wednesday."

"You know you surprised me when you applied for the junior police program," Hikaru detected the forced good humor in her friend's voice but decided to play along, "and the superintendent-general and her assistant were overjoyed a famous aidoru wanted to be a policewoman."

"Na, Hika-chan," the stress in Minako's face lessened, "I'm just a sparrow amongst eagles."

"Oi, Mina-chan?" a lollipop grin appeared on Hikaru's face, "I don't think Nakayoshi, Nintendo nor Toei would agree with you, since your performance in the movie convinced them to hire you to play Sailor V in the promotional ads for the manga, the arcade game and the anime series."

Minako gave Hikaru a long measured look, "You're trying really hard to cheer me up ne?" the blonde accused her dark-haired friend.

"Even when I'm biting a stone, you're my friend, Mina-chan," a serious smile on Hikaru's face.

A warm feeling banished the gloom from Minako's soul but then her eyes narrow slightly, "Is that a comment about my cooking, Hika-chan?" Hikaru giggled, she was happy to have her spunky friend back.

"Alright, students," the English teacher voice stopped everyone's conversations, "Front and center, that includes you, Minako."

"Hai, sensai," Minako covered her mouth with right hand, she forgot the English teacher's rule of only speaking English once the class started.

"What was that?" asked the teacher in a dangerous tone.

"Yes, teacher!" Minako gave dark looks at those students laughing at her gaff.

The teacher let out a sigh before he continued, "Now that we have had our Minako Moment, let us begin the reading assignment," the teacher looked at the roll call sheet on his desk for saying, "Let's start with Miss. Hikaru."

"Yes . . . Mister . . . Bashaw," Hikaru worked hard to pronounce the teacher's name correctly.

Although her baby blues were upon the text and her body language suggested she was listening to Hikaru, Minako was really thinking about what the picture of Ace and what Hikaru's comments meant to her, how she had gone from being a perky thirteen-year-old junior high school student to a wet-behind-the-ears superheroine to a heartbroken veteran, whose mind contained not only the memory of the loss of Saijou Ace but every friend she had when the Moon Kingdom was destroyed by Queen Beryl. Minako remembered how at first she didn't want to be Sailor V, how Artemis had to cajole, trick her and use happenstance to get her to transform into Sailor V and kick butt, if it wasn't for the fact her parents and her friends were usually caught up in the Dark Kingdom's plots, she would have shoved her henshin pen up the white cat's you-know-what by now, then things started to change the moment she went to Britain to find the Druid Sun.

England was the first moment Minako begun to remember her life as the commander of the Moon Kingdom's forces, which included a royal guard made up of Sailor Soldiers. At first it was just a feeling of loneliness that the blonde had put down as homesickness but it became more severe when she went by herself on a tourist trip to Normandy, in short order the teenager found herself carried from the white English Channel beaches to the white gravestones of a cemetery. The words she told Mr. Nikko in front of those headstones were as much truth she was willing to give, the blonde experienced a loss she didn't fully understand, her parents were alive, her friends were alive, yet in the pit of her young soul, the youth knew someone had been taken from her and she missed them very much.

Her aunt's goodwill, the dating of her cousin Alan and the jazz of London's nightlife acted as aspirin for Minako's pain but that all changed when she found the Druid Sun. The nighttime battle between Sailor V, Mr. Nikko and Kumonaga had left the blonde spitting bullets and determined to recover the Druid Sun by breaking every bone in the American's body. The thirteen-year-old chance at evening-the-score came when she cornered Mr. Nikko in Merlin's Cave, but instead of getting the holy relic back and putting the blond American in traction, Minako suffered her first flashback.

Later Artemis told Minako that it was okay to lose, not every battle against the Dark Kingdom could be won, and he bluntly added his charge should be glad Mr. Nikko hadn't killed her while she laid helpless upon the cave's sea-worn floor, but for the blonde it was only the beginning because with each new encounter with the Dark Kingdom, another fragment of her previous life would surface. Luckily these flashbacks occur while the blue-eyed girl was safe at home but that wasn't true when it came to her final encounter with Saijou Ace and Lin-Lin. During that encounter the rest of her reincarnated memories came crashing into her psyche: the sight of Ace as Adonis, the handsome long-haired Malachite, her fellow Senshi friends and holding the dead body of Princess Serenity. The goodness and the grief of those memories brought to Minako also gave the answer for her mysterious feeling of loneliness but feelings aren't the only thing those remembrances brought with them, her body started to change.

Minako's body still had all the right bumps and curves that attracted a lot of lustful gazes wherever she went and even her close friends like Hikaru and Amono hadn't notice any physical changes but they were there because the blonde sensed them and what happened over the previous weekend was a prime example. After the half-day of school on Saturday, Minako and her two friends went to a free music festival in Yoyogi Koen. At more than 133 acres the park was known for its wooden trails, glassy lakes and the Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine), and neither the birds nor the squirrels or the Shinto priests seem to object to the loud music or the frenzy teenage dancers that filled the park from Saturday afternoon to late Sunday evening. It had taken the whole week to sweet-talk Hakaru's parents and Amono's parents into letting them go to the weekly festival on Saturday, but Minako parents' response was to tell their daughter to make it home before midnight.

The noontime bell rang on Saturday and Minako, Hikaru and Amono quickly headed home where they changed into their festive duds, Minako decided to go with a retro Seventies look with bellbottom blue jeans, white platform shoes, metallic yellow vest and a tie-dye blouse with a matching hair ribbon. The two girls and one boy reconvened at the Crown Game Center where Motoki Furuhata, employee-son of the arcade owner and big brother friend of the trio, made a few amusing compliments about their getups, Hikaru had gone with a less-is-better look with a mini-mini-skirt and transparent white blouse that showed her pink pushup bra, while Amono had gone with the all black look, black pants, black shoes, black leather coat, black gloves and greasy black hairdo. The three teenagers took the bus to the park and got off at the bus stop next to the Harajuku Police Station, where a couple of the police officers recognized Minako from the combined PR announcement by Nakayoshi, Toei and the superintendent of the Metropolitan Police of the teen movie star joining the junior police program, both cops joked about the threesome going undercover and the two girls returned the favor with two feminine raspberries while the boy looked embarrassed.

It was like one gigantic party hooked on LSD for at all compress points and in-between there were bands playing every type of music you could think of, mimes do their usual performances, the puppet shows you find at festivals and food stalls selling every kind of product, the fantasy atmosphere was further increased by the partygoers' otherworldly dress. It didn't take long for Amono and Hikaru to immense in the perpetual motion and their excitement prevented them from recognizing what was happening to Minako. At PE, during volleyball practice and while playing at the arcade Minako noticed she wasn't tired out let alone winded although her friends and fellow teammates titled her playing style, the Blonde Hammerer. Now with her surroundings filled by pulse pounding music, gyrating bodies and the mixed odor of sweat, perfume and food, Minako found her spirit in a Rocky Mountain High, an instinctive current flowed into her consciousness and her body obeyed it.

At first Amono and Hikaru grinned and laugh as they danced alongside Minako but as the minutes changed to hours their mood turned from surprise to perplex to worry as they watched their blond friend dance and dance and dance, only taking five-minute breaks to chug down a jug of water, juice or soda. Finally, as the cold light of the moon replaced the sun's hot blaze, Amono and Hikaru took Minako by the elbows and gently but firmly led the swaying girl out of the park. Time and again Minako kicked-up-her-heels whenever a night breeze would carry the park music to their ears while they waited at the bus stop.

The bus driver was wary when the three costumed teenagers boarded his bus and that fear was confirmed when the psychedelic dressed blonde stayed in perpetual motion, belting out songs like Janis Joplin and putting on her own concert for her friends and the other bus riders. Hikaru and Amono took turns trying to get Minako to take a breather and the bus driver kept giving the bouncy blonde a dark look but it was like she was the Energizer Bunny, hopping, skipping and spinning.

Even with the television on Aino Minato and Aino Naohite heard a ruckus going on outside the house. A puzzled look was shared by wife and husband before the two got off the couch and walked to the entryway, both stopped short as the front door was flung open and they saw their daughter strike a Sailor V pose in the yellow porch light. Artemis, who was coming out of the kitchen after finishing off what was left of his tuna fish dinner, froze at the sight of Minako singing the intro song for the Sailor V anime as she leaped onto the genkan, the blonde kicked off her shoes and then continued to sing as the teen bump-and-grind passed her parents and down the hallway toward the white cat, where in a spin she scooped up the goggled-eyed feline and begin to prance in a circle as she held him out at arms' length while singing in English:

I love to catch mice

I love them in the morning

I love them in the evening

I love to nibble on their tails

I love to nibble on their tails

I love to nibble on their heads

Minako's parents gave quizzical looks at Hikaru and Amono, both teens respond by holding out their hands while reporting what happened at the festival. After listening to the two teens' story as Minako kept prancing with the tongue-tied cat, Minato and Naohite put their heads together before telling their daughters' friends everything was okay. The boy and the girl sighed with relief and said their goodbyes. Minako tried to takeoff after them much to Artemis' terror but Naohite snagged his daughter. This interception only changed the recipient of the blonde's hot griddle attention and she dragged her parents into the living room where she turned the television off, pick up the wireless mike and turned on the entertainment center.

To Minato and Naohite it was as if Minako was an eight-year-old again and doing a live performance for them, singing, dancing and telling jokes, the one with Minako pretending Artemis could talk was quite good although the cat seemed not to enjoy it. The parents decided to enjoy their daughter's impromptu concert but their concern for their livewire daughter kicked in when it looked like she was going for a second hour. After a quick whisper between the adults, Minato slowly stood, stepped forward, gently took the mike from Minako and told her daughter it was time for bed. The mercurial display of emotions on the blonde's face caught both parents' attention but before another word could be said by either one, the teenager chirped a goodnight, scooped up the skittish Artemis and tap dance to and up the stairs.

Artemis watched in total amazement from the bed as Minako leaped about her room like the floor was covered by red-hot coals, one minute she is doing her homework, the next minute she's changing the channel on her radio while changing into her lemon yellow nightie, these things plus several other projects kept the living dynamo going until three o'clock in the morning, when Minato came in and told her daughter she was awaking them up. Once more, the full spectrum of emotions played across the teen's face before she chirped an okay, jumped into bed, pulled the covers over her body and closed her baby blues. Standing at the door with her black-haired husband in the hallway, the black-haired woman was worried about what was going on inside their blond-haired daughter. Since coming back from China they noticed Minako was having mood swings that went from cloud-dancing joy to the bottom of the sea depression, both parents thought it was normal teenager angst but as they headed back to their own room, Minato and Naohite were beginning to think that their daughter's busy life was taking a toll on her psychological stability.

Even with her eyes closed and her trim body limp in sleep's embrace, Minako's mind raced at a feverish pace and it was now her dream slipped into a flashback, once more she was in the cave below Castle Dore, once more she was Sailor V, her eyes reflected the steadfastness in her voice, "Give me the Druid Sun."

Sailor V's resolve slipped into impatience when nothing happened and she was about to shout another challenge but then her surrounding went from dusk's dim to daylight brightness and in the middle of her gaze came dropping a girl dressed in a sunlight white fuku with its pleated skirt embroidered with intertwining bands of rainbow colors that matched the same colors on her boots. The Senshi took a half step back as the girl landed a few feet away and then jumped toward the blonde, her long fire-born hair swirled around her golden face with its devil's own grin upon her red lips as she called out, "Alexia-chan!"

Sailor V froze in the trills of indecision, her soul recognized the name called out but her mind didn't, and in that moment the golden girl hugged the Senshi. This time the flashback's contact wasn't jumbled and jammed together like the first time, instead Sailor V found herself knelt behind a myrrh tree, her baby blues watched the Moon Princess follow a teenage girl with a composite bow in her right hand into a labyrinth constructed of white monoliths, her vision showed the ground around the maze wasn't the greens and grays of southwest England instead the ground was the white and sandy of sandstone. Once the two disappeared into the entrance, the blonde was up and quickly followed them in but the commander of the Senshi made sure she remained a safe distance so they wouldn't hear her. After several twits and turns the Senshi found the ground before her covered in rich green grass and the sound of a distant fountain filled the air, with extreme caution the blonde peeked around a corner, what she saw put Cupid's smile upon her ruby lips for there were the Moon Princess embraced and kissed by the Earth Prince.

The Senshi of Love wanted to hoop for joy while watching the Moon Princess and the Earth Prince disappear behind the red rose bushes but her thoughts of celebration were cut short when a whispered voice said, "Come on out or you will take on the features of a unicorn."

Unlike the first time Minako had this flashback, the blonde understood the girl's language but she was still puzzled by the devilish smile appearing on her lips and with hands held high she entered the flower garden and turned left to face her foe, the brown-haired teenage girl dressed in fine silk pants and blouse of reds and greens with an arrow notched to her bow. It took a second for the missile-armed teen to identify the stalker and when she did her reaction was immediate, she let her weapons fall, dropped to her knees, bowed her head and said, "I'm sorry, Commander! I should have known a member of the Princess' bodyguard would be close by."

The heavenly energy coming from the chestnut-haired girl caused Minako to instinctively lick her lips but her eagerness was tempered by the tint of shame in that same energy, so the Senshi stepped forward and went to one knee where her right hand lifted up the young girl's head by the chin while saying with a happy voice, "Please, don't be so formal with me, Fatima."

"You . . . you know of me?" Fatima's modesty made her blush.

"Why wouldn't I know the name of the new bearer of the Star Seed," then a conspirator's tone entered Minako's voice, "especially since you are the go-between for the Moon Princess and the Earth Prince."

"I . . . I . . . hope you are not mad at me, Comm. . . . ah . . . Sailor Venus?" the fear in Fatima's aura made Minako's stomach queasy but she kept on smiling as she stood up and pulled the youngster up with her, it was now Minako noticed Fatima was shorter than the Moon Princess.

Without effort Minako's left her arm looped around Fatima's slim waist and led the girl to a marble bench next to the fountain, "Me, Mad? You've further the cause of love," a fox's glee in those words, because of the fountain's reflected water Minako noted she no longer wore the red-white-and-blue fuku of Sailor V instead her pleated skirt and a sailor collar was a rich orange and her bow was a dark-blue but she still had the red bow in her blond hair, she also noticed that her face looked like someone in their late-twenties, "besides I'm not your commander, no one commands Sailor Sol except maybe your Mama."

"Goddess Ota . . . Otaiyo is Oi . . . Oiroke's mother," Fatima's tongue fumbled over the foreign names, "my mother was a serving maid," the suntanned girl turned her face away from Minako as the two sat on the white bench, "who caught the eye of the Emir of Riyadh."

"Look at me," the energy of Fatima's negative emotions was really twisting Minako's guts so when the girl wouldn't look, the Senshi put some steel in her words, "Look at me, Fatima!" The teenager's head jerked and she gazed up, the old ache in the youth's black eyes put a frown on the blonde's face and finality to her next words, "I don't ever want to hear you put yourself down just because of your birth, I know Otaiyo wouldn't have selected you if she thought you to be a flawed vessel."

Before the smile appeared on Fatima's face Minako felt the teen's positive energy but the Senshi sensed there was something else in there, anticipation, which was confirmed when the chestnut-haired girl right hand took the blonde's right hand while saying, "Thank you, Sailor Venus, blessed are Nefertiti memories for they declare you her closest friend."

Thunder at midnight was the shock that bolted through Minako's soul followed by waves of negative energy from the Senshi of Love's own remembrances, causing her to double over in gut wrenching pain and the blonde heard Fatima cry out, "SAILOR VENUS!" Minako's pain laced mind was barely aware of her body pitching forward, then backward before two hands reached around her shoulders and pulled her left, thus she collapsed onto the bench. Grief was the maker of the black poison, grief the Commander of the Moon Kingdom felt for Nefertiti, Sailor Sol, who was already a wife and a mother when Sailor Venus and the other young trainees came to the Moon Kingdom after the veteran Sailor Soldiers had died during the Jormungandar Incursion. The raw recruit from the second planet could still feel her face blush because her body was enticed by the solar energy of the redheaded beauty, the person asked by Queen Serenity to train them and that Sailor Sol did, running them over the volcanic rocks of Mars, swimming through the undersea of Mercury, floating in the thick atmosphere of Jupiter and mountain climbing the spirals of Mazeran, yet for all her drillmaster demands, the original Senshi for this solar system became a big sister for these seven young females, some who were away from home for the first time in their lives.

It was the brightening of the light through squint shut eyes that thinned the black ache in Minako's brain, in its footsteps she felt once more the familiar luminosity and a voice said in the softest of whispers, "Alexia, relax and feed."

The voice wasn't Nefertiti's but the commanding tone was, so Minako summoned her willpower and tried to relax, the swirling inkiness of her emotions sent her body trembling but then a warming sensation flowing over her skin and her body responded like a babe suckling on her mother's tit. Ever so slowly the positive energy balanced the negative energy within the Sailor Soldier and her eyes fluttered open, the first thing she saw was a golden face with colorless eyes framed by red hair, while it wasn't Nefertiti's face she still said, "Sorry for worrying you, Teacher."

"Fatima didn't mean to cause you any pain, Alexia," gentleness in the feminine voice while her soft lap cradled the yellow corn-haired woman's head, "her unfamiliarity with Nefertiti's memories left her unknowing of your uniqueness."

This last statement left Minako totally confused, "Wha . . . how?"

A serious look matched the tone of Sailor Sol's voice, "Do you remember what happened to Nefertiti's family?"

The negative energy coursed but was kept at bay inside Minako by the positive energy Sailor Sol was feeding her, the blonde nodded while saying, "How could I've forgotten that day, finding Nefertiti kneeling in the ruins of her home, dirty tears trickling down her ash-covered face, her arms and lap holding the dead bodies of her loved ones."

"You decided on your own authority as Commander of the Moon Kingdom to take Nefertiti to Mazeran," Sailor Sol's right hand patted Minako's hair, "although Queen Serenity later supported it, she selected you as Commander because you think with your heart as well as with your mind."

"I wasn't about to leave a helpless target," hate burned in Minako's mind, "for the Hosekijin to finish off," then happiness bloomed, "and for seven years Teacher stayed with my family."

"Nefertiti became the big sister for you and your mates' children, didn't she," Sailor Sol's words more a statement than a question.

"Teacher became a part of my family, a part I didn't want to lose," Minako reached up and used the back of her right-hand fingers to stroke the right side of Sailor Sol's jawbone, "but I knew there would come a time when she would return to her duties as Sailor Sol."

"With all the loving you and your mates gave her," Sailor Sol's right hand clasped Minako's right hand and held it against her cheek, "there was still darkness hidden deep in her psyche."

Minako felt tears leak out of her baby blues and her voice was acidic, "Six months after Teacher returned to her duties, the Moon Kingdom received an emergency distress call from the Suiijin community at Mount Gilboa, saying Sailor Sol had gone insane."

"Nefertiti discovered the locations of the Hosekijin cells," Sailor Sol's voice as cold as the North Pole.

"By the time we tracked her down," the energy coming from Sailor Sol kept her going, "Teacher had attacked the communities at Mount Gilboa, South Cadbury and Mount Showa-Shinzan," her voice revealed her heart sickness, "she was attacking without warning, eliminating the Hosekijin and anyone else who got in the way," then she choked with emotion, "Tea . . . Teacher wouldn't stop . . . bu . . . but she . . . she wou . . . wouldn't fight us," Minako let go of Sailor Sol's hand so she could hug the Senshi midsection and the blonde buried her face in the golden girl's abdomen, "we . . . We . . . WE!"

"Shhhh," Sailor Sol's right hand tenderly rubbed Minako between the shoulder blades as her left hand played with the crying Sailor Soldier's hair ribbon, her voice bittersweet, "When Kitane, the Star Seed of Nefertiti, returned to our home, she couldn't bear the anguish of her loss, so she dispersed her being back into our mother and her memories were shattered amongst us, it is the reason why I choose to become a Star Seed and why Fatima knew of your love for Nefertiti."

The muffled sobs of Minako continued for a while until she sniffled before looking up, saying, "Teacher used to let me lay my head in her lap and she would feed me cherries."

Sailor Sol grinned, asking, "You mean cherries like this one?" the golden girl held her right hand in front of her colorless eyes and a one-inch ball of energy formed between her fingers where it took on the deep burgundy color of the before mentioned fruit.

Even with puffy red eyes, Minako grinned back, laid her head back on Sailor Sol's lap, closed her eyes and opened her mouth. It was a couple of seconds before the blonde's lips felt the texture of the pretended fruit, then she closed her mouth and let the cherry flavored energy dissolve on her tongue. The Senshi of Love opened her baby blues and smiled while teasing, "No pits?"

"And have you spit them and give me a black eye like you did the last time I fed you real ones, no way!" both Senshi laughed but stopped when they heard a nearby giggle and they looked.

Coming around the fountain was the Moon Princess and the Earth Prince, it didn't take a Sherlock Holmes' deduction from Minako for her to concluded what the two royals had been doing in the rose garden, not with very visible grass stains on the Moon Princess' white dress or the brown twigs in her long sunshine hair, the lipstick all over the Earth Prince's face was a dead give-a-way too. In half-joke-half-serious tone Minako said, "Princess, we better get your dress in the wash before Luna sees it or you're end up with a celestial chastity belt and I'll be pulling KP for the next century."

At that moment Sailor Sol shimmered and faded back into Fatima, who said, "If that happens, you can come and stay with me," there was excitement in the teenager's voice that had Minako worried.

"And Alexia can always get a copy of the key for Endymion," the Moon Princess said with a giggle, Minako became very worried.

"Minako-chan!" the harsh whisper of Hikaru awoke Minako from her recall and the blonde was still trying to blink the cobwebs away when she let out a squeal as a piece of chalk tagged her little nose.

"Now that you have daydreamed saving the world, Miss Minako," Teacher Bashaw tossed another piece of chalk up and down with his right hand, "you will begin on page thirty-four, paragraph two, of the reading assignment."

"Yes, Teacher!" Immediately Minako turned to page thirty-four, of her copy of the Hobbit, and begin to read aloud, thoughts about her past and future banished for the rest of the period by her fear of getting detention.

Notes: If people tell you Windows XP won't crash, don't you believe them for one minute! It did it to me and I lost all except the first eight pages of this chapter. So instead of having this chapter out in October, I now end up with this chapter coming out in December/January.

How different is this version from the original?

Because none of the scenes are planned out in detail beforehand, each scene's dialogue and prose is unique. Furthermore to get the chapter out early, I decided to delay the GXP mini-story and the introduction of the other Sailor Senshi to the next chapter (hopefully).

Storyline:

Mihoshi and Kiyone: No, I'm not going to do the Karma Sutra of Seniwa with Mihoshi and Kiyone. As before the reason for this scene is to remind others that there are other ways to depict sexual relationships other than the Western way. Cultures around the globe have developed their own understanding and rituals concerning sexual relationships between individuals besides the Western model.

Complexity: Fuzzy Bunny brought up a concern that MIB/OIK was going to get squeezed out of the picture because of my inclusion of so many anime/manga series in this series. As I told him, the Tenchi Muyo OVA/X-Flies is the main continuity for my series with OMG and Sailor V/Sailor Moon brought in to fill in holes. Any other anime/manga series that appear in this series are there to do two things: cameos and/or comic relief (only Futaba Aoi from "You're Under Arrest" will be the exception to the rule). I'm also going to be very selective of those manga/anime series that appear here too. Furthermore only a few of the characters from OMG and Sailor Moon will appear on a regular basis (Minako/Sailor V and Skuld) while the others will appear when necessary.

Sailor Moon: The reason I decided to go with the idea of the other planets being colonized by refugees from outside our solar system was three fold. First I wanted to give a logical reason for our solar system having so many Sailor Senshi, second I wanted the Senshi to fit seamlessly into the Tenchi Muyo and third I wanted to give another a possible reason for the origins of the inhabitants on the other planets. In most Sailor Moon fanfics, because each Sailor Senshi is called a princess and each has a fortress orbiting their home world, some writers have logically concluded there were inhabitants on these planets and many writers have made these people colonists from Earth although some writers have given them strong fantasy connotations. By the time the modern period occurred, these inhabitants don't interact with Earth for various reasons (the writers have come up with various reasons: they were eliminated by Queen Beryl before her attack on the Moon Kingdom, the loss of the Moon Kingdom caused a breakdown of the interplanetary alliance between the planets which brings about civil wars on the planets and/or wars between the planets which left them uninhabited, the loss of the Moon Kingdom caused a Dark Age to occur, etc. . . . etc . . . ). Since Tenchi Muyo OVA has the current interstellar political system existing for the last twenty thousand years, I decided to give a reasonable explanation for the origins of the Moon Kingdom and how it and the other planets of our solar system are connected to Jurai and the Galactic Union.

True Tenchi Novels and Kagato: Kryo is translating Kajishima's and Kuroda's True Tenchi Novels. Kryo isn't doing a word-for-word translation like Kaz and Radhaz did for their excerpts of TTN, this person is doing a synopsis for each chapter and he/she has confirmed some of the things that Oni-shin and a few other people have been talking about concerning Kagato:

The Kagato killed by Tenchi is actually using one of the failed bodies that Washu made while trying to create Ryoko. During the battle between Azusa, Kagato and Ryoko, it is revealed that Kagato had moved his personality into one of these prototype bodies (there are supposed to be three prototype bodies, one male and two females, I think) but it is left unclear if Kagato moved his complete being into the body or only a copy of his original personality.

Kagato was fascinated by the display of destructive power Azusa and his bondmate, Kirito, was able to do to the Soja and their ability to match the Ryo-ohki and Ryoko. The battle was so vicious that a tear in the time-space continuum occurred and Tsunami had to intervene to save all the combatants. Kagato wants this power.

Kagato is fixated on the theory of the merging of all dimensions and on the power generated by Kirito and Tsunami. While repairing the damage to the Soja, Kagato decided to try to kidnap Tsunami.

There are a few more pieces of interesting information brought out in the new translation:

1) Azusa was out on a walkabout when Kagato encountered him. Azusa was putting some distance between himself and the future Seto was offering him. While he did like Misaki he didn't want to be forced to become the Emperor of Jurai and forced to marry Misaki, like his parents he wanted to prove to Seto and the others that he was an honorable warrior and he wanted to marry the woman he loved.

2) Azusa and Seto have a love-hate relationship, while he does like the eldest princess of Jurai he hated her manipulative maneuvers.

3) After Tenchi's duel with Seiryo, Azusa sends down other suitors for Ayeka's hand in marriage and Tenchi must face each of them in separate duels with the same result, some lucky circumstance caused by Mihoshi comes along and Tenchi is victorious.

During Azusa's journey, several young Space Trees were onboard Kirito for training.

4) Polygamy is allowed in Juraijin society as a way to form alliances between families, planets and empires.

5) A human bondmate can draw on the power of his or her Space Tree to augment the biotech implants placed in their body. Each member of the royal family and probably other nobles of Jurai have biotech implants to increase their life spans as well as their own personal powers, the implants are also there to act as surge breakers so the Space Tree's power won't burnout their human bondmate's body. In GXP it is mentioned Galaxy Police officers are given biotech implants if their bodies don't have the fortitude to handle the physical exertions.

Ryo-ohki's energy attacks can pierce a Space Tree Ship's Light Hawk Wings. In theory only a planet-sized ship could penetrate a Space Tree Ship's Light Hawk Wings. It is not explained but most likely explanation for this ability is either Ryo-ohki's own gems are designed based on Washu's Gems thus having a very high power level or Ryoko can channel the power of Washu's Gems into Ryo-ohki or a combination of both.

8) Ryoko recognized Tsunami when the goddess made an appearance at the end of the battle to close the rift but Ryoko doesn't know why she knew the name.

It seems Seto's Scouts has existed for some time with members coming and going. There are officially Seto's ladies-in-waiting and Azusa's mother, Masaki Amane, was a member. It is mentioned that Seto's followers helped defend Azusa father's homeworld against space pirates when Seto was trying to convince the eight-year-old to come with her to Jurai.

10) A member of the Jurai royal family can give up their rank and privileges but it is hard. The person seeking to abandon their membership to the royal family must allow their Space Tree be planted on Jurai, thus breaking the bond between that person and the Space Tree. Furthermore, it takes the approval of two of the three leaders of the royal family to accept descendants from those who have left the family. Besides Amane, there are several former members of the royal family floating about.

11) Azusa discovered that Earth had been registered twice as a Jurain colony, the second time was recent but the first time was more than 10,000 years ago.

12) Azusa picked up a strange energy reading from Earth. Although the energy isn't identified, I believe it is Funaho he picked up on since she and her family are the descendants of the exiled sister of the first King of Jurai.

13) While the slave trade is illegal in the Galaxy Union, there are those who still buy and sale humanoids. The first meeting between Azusa and Funaho is he saving her from such criminals although their appearance seemed suspicious to me. Azusa believed Funaho's father is still alive and being held captive by these people.

14) Azusa was still injured from his battle with Kagato when he saved Funaho, so she and her grandfather, Asumi, had to take care of the bedridden young man for several days. Both Azusa and Funaho are attracted to each other but Asumi is fearful that because Azusa is high caste, his granddaughter won't be allowed to marry him and she will suffer a heartbreaking loss.

15) It seems Jurai is a planet of warriors since both men and women are trained soldiers. There is a Galaxy Police subdivision on Jurai but it is looked upon with contempt by the Jurains since they are no need for them on Jurai. Officers assigned to the Jurai station must go through a hazing ritual to prove their worth, which is how Azusa's parents met (Amane rescued her future husband, Yotsuga Kazuki, when a mistake was made during the ritual).

The Jurai Royal Family Tree: Recently an update of the Jurai Royal Family Tree Chart shows that Tenchi has a sister. Now those who have seen the synopsis of GXP know that Nobuyuki's new wife, Reiya, is pregnant, the chart showed that Tenchi's mother, Kiyone, had a daughter named Tennyo. The question is where is Tenchi's sister and why haven't we seen her in the OVA?

Hakui, Ishikawa-ku: This place is UFO center for Nihon. There are more reports of Unidentifiable Flying Objects here than anywhere else on these islands.

Characters:

Ayeka and Ohiten: Ohiten is learning what it means to live as a human being and how much we are social animals, while Ayeka is learning how much she wants the closeness of true friends.

Ryoko and Mulder: I'm allowing Mulder's and Ryoko's attraction for each other to define her love for Tenchi.

Nobuyuki and Scully: Two souls joined as one, each a half of a whole.

Washu: Remember, what you see isn't always what is real, what the future might look like doesn't mean it will happen this way. The problem, we within the mechanics of time have, is trying to find the right path to reach the goal we desire.

Kagato: The shared opinion of most is Kagato is a clone of Akara Naja but why he was created is totally unknown. Is this how Naja extended her lifespan (she is at the Royal Academy before Washu's arrival and she is Washu's friend for fifteen-thousand-years) or was the clone created by Washu to try to prevent the loss of Naja's genius?

Mihoshi: A gem of many facets.

Seto: The great mover and shaker behind the throne of Jurai yet she is a caring person.

Makoto: In most fanfics Makoto's cooking is emphasized yet Naoko showed the fourteen-year-old also had a passion for flowers and it wasn't just for their beauty, she was a member of the botany club at school, helped at some of the botanical gardens as well as going to them with her friends. For a time I work for a wholesale orchid grower, so I used my knowledge of flower growing to give Makoto's the trappings of a hobbyist who might one day become a professional florist.

Reiya: Yes, this is the same Reiya from the Third OVA. I'm not really sure how to handle her since she is Nobuyuki's sweetheart in the Third OVA (they could be living together although they are married by the time GXP occurred).

Sailor Sol and Sailor Venus: Another lesbian relationship? Not necessary. In the Naoko's manga Minako/Sailor, Venus is placed in some suggestive poses with the other Sailor Senshi but while some take this to mean there is something going on here, I take it to show the friendship and closeness between them (except for Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, everything I have seen suggested they are lovers although both Haruka and Michiru play the flirt game quite well). This friendship and closeness are shown in a more Western way in the anime (all the girls hang out with each other and each of them have other friends besides the Senshi). Since Sailor Venus is titled the Senshi of Love by the computer holograph of Queen Serenity, I believe Sailor Venus' job is to protect and reinforce the love of the other Sailor Senshi, to protect the love of the people they know and to protect love in general. Of course you have Sailor Mars, who has forswore any feelings of love for any man yet her love for Usagi and the other Sailor Senshi is probably the strongest. Makoto has a boyfriend, both Minako and Ami have shown an interest in Motoki (in the manga Motoki is let in on the girls' little secret, after all the Crown Game Arcade is Sailor Senshi Headquarters, and neither Minako nor Ami seem bothered by the fact that Motoki does have a girlfriend, although the girlfriend in question does seem a little jealous over the two junior high school girls making eyes at her boyfriend) and Usagi has Mamoru. I'm going to give a detail description of the relationship between Sailor Sol and the other Sailor Senshi but it won't appear until the next chapter, I will only say at this time that the relationship is very complex.

Horosha: Drop a few more hints about how he got involve in this whole mess.

Hoshi Nanase: She is a minor character who will appear from time to time.

Bits and Pieces: A big debate broke out at the AFC message board over world construction in fanfiction. The dividing line came between those who supported the idea of staying close to a series' canon and those who supported the idea of taking the characters and building your own canon. What started this debate was someone posting a link to a fanfic they posted at and the response was quick, several people gave some helpful feedback while others were critical about not sticking to the Tenchi Muyo canon. Now arguing over a canon can get a little silly since you can have nine different series to deal with (the OVA, the two Tenchi Muyo television series, the GXP television series, the Hasegawa's novels, the Kajishima's and Kuroda's True Tenchi Novels, the Okuda's manga series, the Pretty Sami OVA and the Pretty Sami television series) and trying to stick to one of them can be hard because most of them have something in them that a person can like, so there is a temptation to do mix-and-match when someone writes a fanfic. I have done this in the past and I'm still doing it as demonstrated by having Kiyone in Mihoshi's flashbacks although this is a kind of OVA series. Many also have a tendency to clomp the OVA, GXP and TTN together because they use the same continuum but this can be confusing for some fanfic writers because they only know about the OVA and Cartoon Network produced even more chaos when they ran the OVA and the TM television series together. My POV is to concentrate on one of the continuums and you are usually safe but if you do add something from another continuum or something from another anime series or one of your own ideas, you shouldn't leave the reader in the dark. What I mean is you will need to explain or show why it is in your fanfic story. This is even more important in a crossover series where the writer must thoroughly explain how these different continuums were merged together. Examples of successful crossovers are Platinum Dragon's Tenchi Muyo/Castlevania series, John Biles' "Dance of Shiva," and my own "Strange Days" (at least I think this is a successful series, only you can tell me if it is good or not). World construction is also important if you plan to write an epic series because only a long running series like Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura have enough background material for the writer to work with, most anime/manga series will have holes that will require the writer to close if the writer is planning to go into an area where the anime/manga series barely touched. Some of this world construction might include learning something about Nihonjin culture, after all the creators of most anime/manga series are Nihonjin and there are some things in them that can only be explained if you know something about the creators' culture.

Writing Humor: A reader of my series, who is writing his own Tenchi Muyo series, pointed out the way I add jokes and humor to my stories. Since most anime series have some humor in them, I figure I should attempt to do the same thing with my stories. Tenchi Muyo OVA has a ton of jokes that cover the full spectrum: punch lines, puns, slapstick and sexual innuendo. Sometimes these jokes are not as obvious to an English viewer because they can be lost in the translation because some of them depend on the viewer's knowledge of Nihonjin culture. Here are some examples:

What student hasn't at some point wished his school would burn down? In the first episode, in the middle of his 'battle' with Ryoko, Tenchi lamented studying so hard during the summer break, all that time wasted since a gas leak is about cause an explosion that should take him and the school to heaven in a fiery explosion. Since many Nihonjins see and remember school as a prison, some of them probably grinned at seeing Tenchi's school end up as an 'unfortunate' causality.

The classic talk-about-someone-and-they-sneeze gag. Every anime series used this gag and we have an example of it when Ryoko is bad-mouthing Ayeka and we have Ayeka sneeze and then the princess looked around to see who was talking about her.

Another gag occurred when Ryo-ohki became curious of Ayeka and tried to pass through the living room glass wall and bounced off, then correctly passed through while Sasami tried to follow the cabbit and ended up bumping her head.

Another sight gag occurred when Ryoko is searching Tenchi for Tenchiken (Tenchi Sword) and she slipped her hand into his pants and fondled the young man's manhood. In Nihonjin slang a man's penis is also called his sword.

Mihoshi's gung-ho attitude is used numerous times as a springboard for humor. Her absolute determination to arrest Kagato when her commander only wanted her to find him and him sweating bullets over her being the marshal's granddaughter is a not-so-subtle jab at nepotism (a common occurrence in Nihon).

When Ryoko and Ayeka are drinking in the onsen, Ryoko poured Ayeka her sake and held the bottle out for the princess to return the favor (as required by Nihonjin manners) but because of Ryoko's joke, Ayeka gabbed the bottle away and started to pour her own drinks and became really drunk in no time. In Nihonjin culture, one is forgiven for what one say and act while drunk, so the gloves come off for both Ayeka and Ryoko and we get a real look at their inner selves as we do when Mihoshi joined them, of course Sasami's comment about the onsen stinking of sake is clear evidence of how drunk our three females are (as does the floating dish full or empty sake bottles).

The Tenchi Muyo Special (now known as Episode Seven) is one long gag from start to finish. You have Sasami pull a fast one on Ryoko, with our local space pirate trying to seduce Tenchi Earth style. This gag worked so well that both Ayeka and Washu are inadvertently drawn into it while Mihoshi innocently turned the tables on Ayeka, Ryoko and Washu. What little girl can boast of blowing up their home by accident?

Because I read several manga and watch other anime, I incorporate their jokes into my stories but at the same time I try not to make the characters look too dumb (my only gripe with manga/anime creators is how sometimes the characters appear too dense). Furthermore, I always enjoyed the comedies of the Sixties and Seventies with such shows as "I Dream of Jeanie," "Bewitched," and the "Beverly Hillbillies," as well as the humor you find in Westerns (the spaghetti Westerns and John Wayne's movies especially). My paternal grandparents raised me so I was exposed to the great comedians of movies and early television like Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers and many others. I will first visualize a scene in my mind in a serious manner then I will look at ways to add a joke here, a pun there. As I said before, I am trying to recreate the flow of fantasy, sci-fi, romance, humor and action you find in the Tenchi Muyo OVA. The X-Flies also had a touch of humor in most of its episodes (although sometimes the jokes got left on the cutting room floor).


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